Owners Manual: Carlie Irsay-Gordon Takes Over, and James Dolan Wilds Out
Sports makes an ass(et class) out of all of us. Let’s break down the latest happenings in sports ownership, from MSG shenanigans to the NFL trade deadline and more.Owners Manual: Carlie Irsay-Gordon Takes Over, and James Dolan Wilds Out
Sports makes an ass(et class) out of all of us. Let’s break down the latest happenings in sports ownership, from MSG shenanigans to the NFL trade deadline and more.
In early August, at an Indianapolis Colts training camp session, franchise owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon shared some great news with a crowd of onlookers: “Jonathan is here to stay!” she exclaimed. Jonathan meant Jonathan Taylor, a three-time Pro Bowl running back who led the NFL in rushing in 2021 and had signed a new two-year, $44 million contract extension with the Colts that very day. The owner and player embraced like old pals. Irsay-Gordon told the fans that Taylor had an exciting announcement to make on behalf of her and her two younger sisters. That announcement? “They wanna buy the best fans in the world a round of beer!”
No one would have known it at the time, but the moment would turn out to be one of the few “highlights” of this disastrous and still unraveling 2026 Colts season. So far, Indianapolis has a 2-6 record and is coming off four straight losses, most recently a 42-7 drubbing by Jacksonville. Quarterback Daniel Jones has thrown five touchdowns and nine interceptions this year. (He was benched last Sunday but is expected to start this week against the Cowboys. Well, unless there’s “a curveball.”) On October 19, Irsay-Gordon fired 10-year veteran GM Chris Ballard. And a week later, the team traded All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson to the Seahawks and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the 49ers. Wide receiver Josh Downs has asked to be dealt. Team beat writers are already gently encouraging fans to look ahead to next year.
And as the NFL sprints toward the November 10 trade deadline, one of the biggest questions around the league is whether Jonathan really is there to stay. Teams including the Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Giants have all expressed interest in trading for Taylor, according to ESPN reports. And it’s no surprise that the Taylor situation is being eagerly followed, because of Taylor’s talent but also because Irsay-Gordon has become one of the most closely watched owners in the NFL.
The eldest of late Colts scion Jim Irsay’s three daughters, Irsay-Gordon had already worked for the team—and represented Indy at league meetings—long before her dad died in May 2025. But her ascendance to his old helm has earned her new levels of attention. Jim Irsay was a quote, unquote “colorful” presence in every way; Irsay-Gordon stands out a bit more literally thanks to her sartorial dedication to any and all things Colt blue. But lately she’s mainly been drawing notice—and no shortage of scorn, including from inside this house!—for her preferred manner of watching football: not up in the luxury lounges but down on the sideline, with a notepad in her hands and a coach’s headset in her ears.
“You see her out on the sidelines every day,” Taylor told the Pivot podcast in late August. “She’s asking questions. She’s asking not only about ’ball, but she’s asking about your personal life. Like, she’s trying to get to know her players.”
Irsay-Gordon has known Taylor his whole NFL career; ESPN’s recent report described her as having “an affinity” for the running back and a desire for him to remain in Indy. Taylor and Jim Irsay had an up-and-down relationship: Back in 2020, when the Colts traded up in the second round of the draft to snag the running back, it was thanks in part to Irsay’s urging. But by 2023, the running back was asking to be traded, and the owner was making statements like: “If I die tonight and Jonathan is out of the league, no one’s going to miss us. The league rolls on.” (Irsay and Taylor ultimately came to terms on a contract extension and made up.)
Now, Irsay-Gordon’s predicament may help us get to know her better. Will she go all the way and sign off on a genuine Colts rebuild, or will she ultimately seek to maintain continuity with the best of the past? Either way, she has other big decisions coming up, beyond what to do about Taylor. Also looming: the questions of who ought to direct personnel for the Colts and who should coach them. The team’s acting GM, Ed Dodds, was Ballard’s right-hand man for nearly a decade and ostensibly does his job with Irsay-Gordon’s input, as his predecessor did. But The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue recently hinted that Irsay-Gordon might be drawn to “a non-traditional leadership structure” involving the meeting of multiple minds on a small leadership team, à la the Rams and the Panthers. As for head coach Shane Steichen: Even if he lasts the rest of this season, his seat has definitely gotten quite hot.
Irsay-Gordon has said she has “a fifth-grade reading level understanding” of the sport. But even for graduate-seminar-level ball knowers, football comes at you fast. It was around this time last November that the Colts beat the Falcons in overtime in Berlin and went into their bye week riding high at 8-2. Irsay-Gordon was in festive spirits then, buying fans a round of Bier at the bar, as she does. Except Indianapolis didn’t win another game for the rest of that season, dropping its final seven straight. And then the Colts came out this year 2-6. So what next? Someone’s gotta pay that tab.
Irsay-Gordon isn’t the only pro sports inheritee to be making headlines this fall for one reason or another! Read on for more about James Dolan’s post-championship grumpiness, a look at Michael Bidwill’s unpopularity (expressed via hashtag), and an obligatory dive into the latest in the Buss family drama. All that and more in this latest edition of Owners Manual, where we cover the business of fun … and other funny business.
James Dolan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Championship Afterglow
There’s never a dull moment in the midtown-and-beyond dominion of Madison Square Garden chief James Dolan. And there never seems to be a chill moment, either. You may have heard that the New York Knickerbockers won their first championship in 53 years this summer. And you may have erroneously figured that if you were the franchise’s owner, you’d feel something like bliss. Wrong! Instead of letting Knicks fans experience a summer of serotonin, Dolan’s been doling out one cortisol megaspike after another.
To illustrate what I mean, here’s a timeline from said championship win to now:
June 13: [Mike Breen voice] It’s over! It’s over! Knicks fans, this is not a dream! Go ahead and cry! The Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs in five games to win their first NBA title since 1973, overcoming obstacles like Victor Wembanyama, a 29-point deficit in Game 4 … and the various logistical and vibrational distractions created by their owner, Dolan, who hosted President Donald Trump at Game 3 (the only Knicks loss in the Finals) and then started shit with City Hall on social media leading up to Game 4.
June 14: SNY’s Ian Begley reports that ahead of the playoffs, Dolan made an inspirational speech to the Knicks that included an ambitious ask: that they go celibate for 10 weeks during the playoffs. You’re the boss, boss!
June 17: On WFAN, Dolan says it would be “suicidal” to go into the second apron, alarming fans who hoped to run things back with the winning Knicks roster in 2026-27. He also remarks that he can’t wait to bring the team to visit ol’ Donny Trump, his friend of 30 years, at the White House. Not only has the confetti not yet settled, but the Knicks haven’t even held their damn victory parade.
June 18: Here’s how I contemporaneously described Dolan’s behavior live from said parade:
Here at the ceremony, Dolan just comes across as a vindictive chump more fixated on bigtiming the mayor than on celebrating the occasion. “I don’t need your vote,” he snarks to the fans before him. “I don’t need to quote to you about what happened. If you’re real Knick fans you know it already.” Con…gratulations, I guess?? The same guy in the crowd near me who had shouted “fuck them picks” earlier now cries out: “Charles Oakley!!!” So true.
I also noted that both Dolan and his son were constitutionally unable to smile nicely for a photo with the mayor.
July 16: MSG Entertainment sues Wired for defamation over an article about Dolan’s various grievance databases and surveillance initiatives. Bummer for the Girl Scout troops of the children of whichever lawyers get assigned to the case …
September 30: As part of a corporate reorg dividing Dolan’s Knicks and Rangers into two separate publicly traded entities, Isiah Thomas is named to the Knicks’ board.
October 15: Dolan holds a fundraiser at a Knicks preseason game for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, who would go on to lose the race. Cheapest ticket: $10,000.
October 22: An article in The Athletic reports that MSG employees received emails announcing “your Employee Championship Ring is here” … that turned out to be deliberate phishing tests. (Anyone who clicked had to take a cybersecurity class.) The article also notes that while members of the coaching staff were given ring boxes at the Knicks’ banner-raising ceremony, those were just for show: Their jewelry hadn’t even been sized yet. Asked about it before a game the next day, head coach Mike Brown kept mum: “I’m not going to talk about any ring stuff,” he said. “As you guys can imagine, I’m not going to get into any of that.”
October 26: Dolan receives a “one-time cash award” of $10 million “in recognition of his significant efforts and leadership in effectuating” that aforementioned Knicks-Rangers corporate spinoff, according to an SEC filing. Nice gig if you can get it.
October 28: Stephen A. Smith reports that Dolan is pissy over a lack of interest in his desired NBA champion White House visit; apparently, and I’m just conjecturing here, his Knicks aren’t eager to get their asses ogled by POTUS.
In the words of one noted pair of New Yorkers, Time it was, and what a time it was! We can only wonder what new wonders await us from the Knicks’ final boss. The season is young.
An NBA Vegas Expansion Update
No one has been getting any younger waiting for the interminable Las Vegas NBA expansion bake-off to be won. Since we previously checked in in mid-July, the people thought to be in the running for a new franchise have been shuffling around and dropping out. According to reports, the remaining front-runners include:
- Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband, former St. Louis Blues owner Bill Laurie, who added Egon Durban—a Raiders minority owner and the co-CEO of Silver Lake—to their bid group and have an eye on land next to Allegiant Stadium for a new basketball arena.
- Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, who joined forces with Jerry Colangelo’s “Las Vegas Jacks” group in September and now has plans for a new arena as well.
A decision is expected to be made by the end of the year. Much murkier, by contrast, is the situation in Seattle, where there’s been a noticeable loss of momentum around granting a team. Per Brian Windhorst, “[Adam] Silver left owners with the impression that a Seattle expansion team was no longer a lock at last month’s board of governors meeting. Silver even reintroduced the idea of Mexico City as a possible destination.”
Dun, Dun … DUNDON
Cue the spooky music! Seattle isn’t the only place in the Pacific Northwest where the hoops news has been kinda gloomy lately. In a letter to season-ticket holders in early October, new Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon wrote: “I'm still getting to know Portland and this fanbase. But one thing is already clear: you show up, you care and you expect more than mediocrity. I respect that.” Does he, though?
Dundon—a 55-year-old Dallas financier who made his fortune in subprime auto lending—is not new to sports ownership. Quite the contrary: In June, his Carolina Hurricanes team won the Stanley Cup. (Lest you ever forget that, the engraved names of Dundon, his wife, and each of his five children can remind you.) But his first months owning Portland have been far less feted.
There were the layoffs and cost cuts that inspired one leading podcaster to christen Dundon “El Cheapo.” (To be fair, he did spring for Ja Morant’s giant contract in an offseason trade.) And even now, months after closing his roughly $4.25 billion purchase of the team from the estate of late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, Dundon is still fighting the city of Portland over the financing of arena renovations. Sticking points include rent, a ticket tax, considerations around union labor, and a commitment from the team about how long they’ll stay put. Adam Silver has said losing Portland would be “a failure.”
The good news for the Blazers as of now: They’re 6-1. On the court, the team has been playing like it expects more than mediocrity, even as its owner continues to haggle over his rent.
Michael Bidwill’s Cardinal Sins
It’s fun learning about the ownership woes plaguing other people’s franchises. There’s a universal kinship to it, kind of like stumbling onto an unfamiliar subreddit and immediately being reminded that no matter where you go, there is mod drama to be found. On the October 28 episode of Pardon My Take, “Big Cat” went on a tirade against Arizona Cardinals scion Michael Bidwill in which he vented that the owner nickel-and-dimed players over FedEx fees, moved a popular training camp in Flagstaff back to the team’s stadium, and stiffed assistant coaches on old Super Bowl bonuses. (Like father, like son: Bidwill’s late father was sometimes known as “Dollar Bill” Bidwill for his frugality.)
Arizona fans have taken to buying digital billboards with the message #BIDWILLOUT, exhorting Bidwill to sell the team, which his grandfather Charles purchased in 1932 for 50 grand. I sympathize with and salute you, beleaguered Cardinals fans.
“Who He Pay For?”: Gerry Cardinale Edition
Inspired loosely by one of the greatest bits of all time, we here at Owners Manual are proud to introduce “Who He Pay For?,” a section intended to quickly orient you to the life and lore of one (comparatively!) under-the-radar sports mover and shaker. Our inaugural entry: Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners, who could most recently be spotted getting all misty about a Halloween victory by AC Milan—the Serie A soccer team he purchased for $1.2 billion in 2022 with the encouragement of his pal Billy Beane—over Inter Milan.
“Those guys are winners,” Cardinale effused to an Italian reporter. “It brings tears to my eyes—it’s great, right? The best night, and we’re going to build on this.” (Oh yeah, speaking of building things in Milan: Cardinale is also behind a planned 71,500-seat stadium, and he recently added that he’d like to build a 20,000-seat basketball arena there, too.)
I have a long-standing fascination with Cardinale that dates back to my past life working in finance in the mid-aughts, when I used to see his name pop up on my boss’s caller ID (they both went to Harvard) and used to overhear tales of his rainmaker ways. He helped start the YES Network with George Steinbrenner! He collaborated on a hospitality conglomerate with Jerry Jones! In 2007, I sat on the subway one morning with my daily New York Post and learned from the sports section that a frosty stalemate between Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees had finally thawed—and that the person who brokered the pivotal peace talks was Cardinale. Two years later, another piece in the Post would make the case that the “Goldman guy” oughta be given a 2009 Yankees World Series ring.
In the years since, I’ve seen this man’s name, like, everywhere. His monetary interests are all over the map: Fenway Sports Group. The Big 12. Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps! AFFLECK!!! When Skydance acquired Paramount, Cardinale was there in a big way: RedBird co-led the deal with the Ellisons, put in $2 billion, and is now Paramount’s second-biggest shareholder. So, who he pay for? At this point, it’s probably easier to list the things Cardinale isn’t backing.
Buss vs. Buss—and Beyond!
As we wrote about back in August, it’s been a hectic time for the Buss family. (Although, when is it not?) As a refresher: First, the embattled Mark Walter, who bought control of the Lakers from the Busses just last year, agreed this summer—while under the duress of an FBI investigation; no biggie—to flip the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a valuation of $12.5 billion. Then, Jeanie Buss’s siblings announced their intention to sell their family’s remaining 17.8 percent stake, too—a move that would drop Jeanie’s share below the 15 percent the NBA requires for her to remain governor. Since then, the siblings have been embroiled in a legal battle over the terms of their family trust. On October 28, Jeanie fired a new round of shots, accusing her siblings of a “cloak and dagger” media campaign. Her lawyers described the dispute as a “classic succession parable” (hell yeah!) in which Jerry Buss “chose his daughter over four sons.” A hearing between Jeanie and the rest of the Buss fam is scheduled for December 8.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the planned deal, the buyers have reportedly been passing the hat. Not long after Bill Simmons said on his podcast that he’d heard the Kushner-Iger group lacked billions in cash in hand to complete the sale, a Front Office Sports report said that there has been “massive demand” for nine-figure minority stakes in the Lakers. As for Walter? He’s reportedly trying to sell the Los Angeles Sparks for hundreds of millions now too, as well as his $3 billion stake in the Cadillac F1 team. Which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to list some stuff on Facebook Marketplace.
Stake Bites: A Hearty Romp Around the Owners Club
Elsewhere in ownership:
- Reader Doug M. writes in with a lament about Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross: “Steve bought the Dolphins in 2009 and we have not won a playoff game since 2000, the longest streak in the NFL.” Maybe some good news is that Ross—the real estate baron who still hasn’t given up his dream of creating “the Wall Street of the South”—has been selling off chunks of the Dolphins since late 2024. (Most recently, he sold a 2.1 percent stake to Jean Eric Salata, a financier who was interested in trading stocks from a young age. The deal valued the Dolphins at more than $10 billion.) The bad news is that Ross still controls something like 80 percent of the team. Much like the Dolphins in the 21st century, Ross ain’t going anywhere.
- Last month, my esteemed colleague Zach Lowe reported the bananas news that Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé conducted a sort of “roast” of his sad-sack franchise and its employees to kick off the NBA season. I—I can’t top that one with a punch line.
- “I would love to own a team …” —Caitlin Clark, to Kylie Kelce.
- And finally, Manchester City was found guilty on 114 of 115 charges of breaking Premier League financial rules. Its owners, City Football Group, also own 80 percent of New York City FC—but MLS commissioner Don Garber remains sanguine about it all: “We’re not in the business of looking [at] what our team owners do in other leagues,” he said last month. Duly noted—because that’s the exact business that I happen to love.
