If you watch an Indianapolis Colts game, you may notice team owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon standing on the sideline wearing a coaching-style headset, often with a play-call sheet and notebook in her hands.
She is not calling plays and she is not telling Colts coaches what to do during the game.
Irsay-Gordon wears the headset so she can listen to the Colts’ coaching communications in real time, understand why decisions are being made and evaluate how the football operation functions. It is part of an unusually hands-on approach to NFL ownership that she actually began years before becoming the team’s principal owner.
Why Does Carlie Irsay-Gordon Wear A Headset During Colts Games?
Irsay-Gordon has explained that she began listening to the Colts’ coaches during games because she wanted to understand football operations well enough to properly evaluate the people responsible for running the team.
The Colts say she uses the headset to hear how coaches communicate during the pressure of an NFL game and to understand the circumstances behind individual plays and decisions.
Her goal is not simply to see whether a play succeeded or failed. She wants to understand why it succeeded or failed. [Colts]
Irsay-Gordon has said that watching a play without hearing the communication can create a misleading impression. A receiver may appear to have run the wrong route, for example, when the real problem could have been a mistake in how the play was communicated.
Listening to the coaching headset allows her to understand those distinctions. [Colts]
Is The Colts Owner Calling Plays?
No.
Irsay-Gordon is listening to the coaching operation, not acting as an offensive or defensive coordinator.
Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason specifically explained that Irsay-Gordon is not actively speaking on the headset and that game-day decisions are not being routed through ownership.
The organization describes her role as observation and education rather than in-game management. [Colts]
Can Carlie Irsay-Gordon Talk To The Quarterback Through The Headset?
There is no indication that Irsay-Gordon is communicating directly with the quarterback or sending plays onto the field.
The Colts describe her headset use as a way to listen to coaches’ communications. The team has specifically said that she is not actively talking over the headset or inserting herself into coaching decisions. [Colts]
Head coach Shane Steichen and his coaching staff remain responsible for the football decisions made during games.
Why Does Carlie Irsay-Gordon Carry A Play Sheet?
Irsay-Gordon is also frequently shown holding a laminated sheet similar to the ones used by NFL coaches.
The sheet helps her follow what she is hearing on the headset and connect coaching communication with what is happening on the field.
She has said the process allows her to better understand whether a mistake resulted from a player, a play call, communication or another part of the football operation. [Colts]
She can then use that information when evaluating the organization at a broader level.
Why Does The Colts Owner Take Notes During Games?
Irsay-Gordon has also become recognizable for carrying a notebook or writing notes while standing on the sideline.
Her approach reflects her belief that an owner making decisions about coaches, general managers and football resources should understand as much as possible about how those people actually perform their jobs.
She has said listening to games helps ownership determine where the organization needs additional resources or adjustments and can help prevent expensive personnel mistakes. [Colts] [NBC Sports]
Is Carlie Irsay-Gordon Micromanaging The Colts?
The Colts say that is not the purpose of her sideline presence.
Mason said Irsay-Gordon does not speak over the headset or require game decisions to go through ownership.
Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter has similarly described her as someone who attends meetings, asks questions and tries to understand how each part of the football operation works. [Colts]
Steichen has publicly supported her involvement, saying Irsay-Gordon understands both the offensive and defensive sides of football and has been involved with the team throughout his tenure. [Colts]
Why Does She Want To Hear The Coaches?
One of Irsay-Gordon’s explanations is that team owners ultimately have to make extremely expensive decisions about coaches and executives.
If ownership is responsible for hiring, retaining or firing the people who run football operations, she believes ownership should understand exactly what those jobs involve.
Irsay-Gordon has said her desire to learn more accelerated during the period when the Colts hired Chuck Pagano as head coach in 2012.
She wanted to become knowledgeable enough to distinguish between someone who genuinely understood football operations and someone who merely sounded convincing while discussing them. [Colts]
How Long Has Carlie Irsay-Gordon Been Wearing A Headset?
The practice did not begin when she became the Colts’ principal owner.
Irsay-Gordon spent years on the Colts sideline listening to coaches before most NFL fans began noticing her.
The Colts have said she has been a sideline presence dating back to the Chuck Pagano era and spent years learning different areas of the organization’s football operation. [Colts]
Her headset became much more noticeable after she assumed a larger public role following the death of her father, longtime Colts owner Jim Irsay.
Why Did People Suddenly Start Noticing The Colts Owner’s Headset?
Irsay-Gordon became the Colts’ Owner and CEO in 2025 following Jim Irsay’s death.
She had already spent years standing on the sideline and listening to coaches, but television broadcasts and fans paid considerably more attention to her once she became one of the public faces of the franchise.
The Colts themselves noted in 2026 that she had worn a headset and listened to play calling for years before the practice suddenly attracted widespread attention. [Colts]
Who Is Carlie Irsay-Gordon?
Carlie Irsay-Gordon is the Owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts and the oldest daughter of late Colts owner Jim Irsay.
She owns the franchise along with her sisters Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson.
Following their father’s death in May 2025, the Colts formally transitioned leadership of the franchise to the three sisters.
Irsay-Gordon became Owner and CEO, Foyt became Owner and Executive Vice President, and Jackson became Owner and Chief Brand Officer as well as president of the Indianapolis Colts Foundation. [Colts]
Did Carlie Irsay-Gordon Work For The Colts Before Becoming Owner?
Yes.
Irsay-Gordon did not suddenly enter football operations after inheriting control of the team.
She worked as an intern in multiple Colts departments while she was in college and formally joined the organization in 2008.
She subsequently spent 13 seasons as a Colts vice chair and owner before assuming the Owner and CEO title. She has also represented the franchise at NFL owners meetings since 2004. [Colts]
Do Colts Coaches Mind Having The Owner On The Sideline?
Publicly, Colts coaches have been supportive.
Steichen has said Irsay-Gordon understands football and has been involved with the coaching staff since he arrived in Indianapolis.
Cooter said she attends meetings and asks questions while continuing to learn.
Mason said he respects the amount of time she has invested in understanding the team’s day-to-day football operation and emphasized that she does not interfere with game-day coaching decisions. [Colts]
Is It Normal For An NFL Owner To Wear A Headset?
It is unusual.
Most NFL owners watch games from an owner’s suite rather than standing alongside players and coaches for the entire game.
Irsay-Gordon’s combination of remaining on the sideline, wearing a headset, carrying a play sheet and taking notes therefore attracts considerable television attention.
The Ringer reported that there is no NFL rule preventing an owner from listening to the coaching communication and described Irsay-Gordon’s game-day routine as highly unusual among current NFL owners. [The Ringer]
Does Carlie Irsay-Gordon Think Other NFL Owners Should Wear Headsets?
She has suggested that they consider it.
Irsay-Gordon has argued that owners are responsible for paying coaches and general managers millions of dollars and ultimately deciding whether those employees remain with the franchise.
She believes listening to how the football operation actually functions can make ownership better informed when those decisions have to be made. [NBC Sports]
Watch: Why The Colts Owner Is On The Sideline
NFL on NBC’s Pro Football Talk discussed Irsay-Gordon’s unusual sideline role, her headset and her hands-on approach to running the Colts.
Why Is The Colts Owner On The Sideline Instead Of In A Suite?
The sideline gives Irsay-Gordon a perspective she would not receive sitting in an owner’s box.
She can hear the coaching communication while simultaneously watching how coaches, players and staff members respond during a game.
Irsay-Gordon has described football operations as something that can otherwise resemble a “black box” to ownership — an operation in which an owner sees the result without necessarily understanding the process that produced it.
She uses the sideline to better understand that process. [Colts]
What Is Carlie Irsay-Gordon Listening To?
The Colts say Irsay-Gordon is listening to communications among the team’s coaches.
That allows her to hear the terminology, adjustments, play discussions and other communication taking place during a game and compare it with what she sees on the field.
The Colts have emphasized that her role is observational: she listens and learns rather than directing the coaches through the headset. [Colts]
Carlie Irsay-Gordon’s Sideline Headset At A Glance
- Who is she? Indianapolis Colts Owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon
- Why is she wearing a headset? To listen to coaches’ communications and understand football operations
- Is she calling plays? No
- Does she talk on the headset? Colts coaches say she does not actively speak over it
- Does she tell Shane Steichen what plays to run? No
- Why does she carry a play sheet? To follow the coaching communication and understand individual plays
- Why does she take notes? To better understand and evaluate the football operation
- How long has she done it? Years before becoming the team’s principal owner
- Is it common for NFL owners? No, it is unusual
- Who else owns the Colts? Her sisters Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson
So Why Is The Colts Owner Wearing A Headset?
The simplest answer is that Carlie Irsay-Gordon wants to understand exactly how the Indianapolis Colts operate during a football game.
She listens to the coaches, follows the play sheet, watches what happens on the field and takes notes so that when she eventually has to evaluate coaches, executives, players or organizational resources, she has more information than simply the final score.
It is an unusual level of involvement for an NFL owner, but it should not be confused with Irsay-Gordon actually coaching the team. Colts coaches have specifically said she does not actively speak over the headset or require in-game decisions to go through her.
In other words, the headset is primarily an information and evaluation tool for the person responsible for running the franchise, not a way for the owner to call plays from the sideline. [Colts] [NBC Sports]
