INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Kass had just wrapped up a lecture for her Gender and Sports class at Indiana University when a few students started talking about Indianapolis Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon, about her being on the sidelines during games — and the backlash that’s ensued.
The image of an ultra-feminine woman — sometimes in a dress and almost always wearing lipstick — in a headset, scribbling down notes and asking questions of coaches, has caused a social media frenzy in recent weeks.
After the Colts 30-13 win over the Washington Commanders in London Sunday, Irsay-Gordon on the sidelines catapulted to a viral level.
Sports personality Bill Simmons called it “f—ing nuts.” Plenty of people came to Irsay-Gordon’s defense. And plenty of people sided staunchly with Simmons.
Some said Irsay-Gordon was being “performative,” taking notes just for show. Others questioned Irsay-Gordon’s football IQ. Still, others posted memes of her as a micro-managing owner.
Yet, many conceded that as the principal owner of the Colts, the woman who pays the bills, Irsay-Gordon can do whatever she wants.
After that class, Kass read all of it and, coming from a gender studies perspective, there are looming questions:
Would there be any backlash at all for her sideline presence if Irsay-Gordon were a male owner? Would the backlash be less harsh if she were a man? Would the language and tone of the critique be the same if Irsay-Gordon were Jim Irsay’s son, instead of his daughter?
See Carlie Irsay-Gordon in person
Woman NFL owner vs. man NFL owner
“I’m hesitant to say, definitively, what the kind of backlash or non-backlash commentary would be if a male owner were in the same position,” Kass says, “because, even some of the comparisons that I’ve seen made are 100% not the same.”
Those comparisons have mostly revolved around Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who’s been spotted on the sidelines during games and, at times, had to defend it. But Jones’ sideline appearances are sporadic. Irsay-Gordon is there for every game, the entire game, and she has been for a decade.
But when she became principal Colts owner after her father, Jim Irsay, died in May 2025, Irsay-Gordon’s presence on the field became much more talked about, and she acknowledges that.
“With our dad passing away … the title change, a lot of what I was doing, what I’m still doing, isn’t any different,” Irsay-Gordon told Bridget Condon of Front Office Sports Tonight. “So I think that’s been something to be more mindful of, that now people like giving more attention to what I’m doing.”
And the critique and language surrounding that attention has been drastically different, Kass says, because Irsay-Gordon is a woman.
She points to Simmons’ comments on his “The Bill Simmons Podcast” Monday, a 50-second clip that exemplifies how women in powerful positions in sports can be discounted.
Before Simmons begins his rant about Irsay-Gordon, his co-host “gestures to the fact that perhaps the reason why Simmons had not talked about (Irsay-Gordon being on the sidelines) on the podcast earlier was because he had a crush on her,” Kass says.
That’s when Simmons acknowledges he has been laying off talking negatively about Irsay-Gordon, but will no longer.
“I’m not going to tiptoe around this anymore, right? I think the owner on the sidelines taking notes is f—ing nuts. I think it’s nuts. … I think it’s crackers,” Simmons said. “I can’t believe she does this, and I can’t believe people in her life haven’t talked her out of it.”
That struck Kass as a “binary of either Irsay-Gordon was someone to have a crush on or someone to be criticized” as an NFL owner. She couldn’t be both.
“That was a tough place to begin (the commentary),” Kass says. “But then, also, that clip ending with her being called ‘Irsay’s daughter.’ At face value, they’re levying a critique about her, unfairly enacting owners’ power, when they are simultaneously discounting the fact that she’s an owner by calling her ‘Irsay’s daughter’ and talking about having crushes on her.”
‘Performative? Sports is about performance’
While Irsay-Gordon being on the sidelines with a headset seems to rest well with most, it’s her scribbling in a notebook and talking to coaches that seems to raise the greatest ire.
“So, they are making assumptions about her authority to be in that space in the first place,” Kass says. “I also have some qualms about the critique that her taking notes is quote-unquote performative.”
As someone who studies gender performance in sport and the way that women athletes, coaches and those in other leadership positions, are scrutinized, Kass says she finds it interesting that people are questioning Irsay-Gordon for taking an interest in the Colts’ performance.
“Sports is about performance,” Kass says, “so the weaponization of performativity as a critique is also not sitting with me great.”
All the attention surrounding Irsay-Gordon on the sidelines could be, in large part, to her standing out as a novelty in the NFL, says Dr. Colin Johnson, associate professor of gender studies at IU.
Johnson’s perspective, admittedly, comes from what he calls the “proverbial nosebleed section.” Sports are not Johnson’s forte, especially the NFL.
“But, I strongly suspect that all the public chatter is fueled, in part, by Irsay-Gordon’s fashion choices, which seem intended to make her highly visible on the field as a female presence, albeit a female presence of a very different sort than that of, say, the Colts cheerleaders,” Johnson says.
“She may be the first NFL owner whose often conspicuously feminine attire makes her easy to pick out of a crowd. And that alone may be enough to ensure that Irsay-Gordon becomes a major part of the Colts story, which could very well be, precisely, what she is hoping will happen.”
Irsay-Gordon’s appearance may cause her to get noticed, but it doesn’t negate her as an NFL owner or reflect on her ability to lead, Kass says.
“There are all kinds of cultural expectations of performance that we hold for women,” Kass says, “and so to penalize her when she shows up in that space (presenting) more conventional femininity and also showing an interest in football, and that is seen as fake? It’s not quite fair.”
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Hunsinger on X @danahunsinger33. Reach her via email [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Carlie Irsay-Gordon taking notes on Colts’ sideline became a controversy
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