Owning an NFL team is sweet. And it’s not just because you get to go to all the games and hang out with superstar athletes under your employ. There is also the fact that you will most certainly be a billionaire.
Take the case of Jim Irsay, with a net worth estimated at $4.5 billion and boss of the Indianapolis Colts.
While Irsay clearly has no shortage of smarts and has made a major success of himself. He had a serious head-start thanks to his immigrant father who earned a fortune that exceeds $150 million via the heating and contracting business. Along the way, the senior Irsay owned both the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams at various times.
In 1984, right when the Colts moved to Indianapolis, Jim was made general manager, after having gained experience via various administrative jobs – including public relations, personnel and ticket sales – with the club. Only 24 at the time that he landed the position, Irsay was the youngest GM in the NFL.
When his father died in 1995, Jim Irsay showed his tenaciousness by going toe-to-toe with his mother, battling for ownership of the Colts. He came out on top. Since then, Irsay has been calling the shots in Indianapolis.
Though the Colts had a lacklustre start to the current season – with a 1-2 record – that does not necessarily make them a bad selection in NFL betting markets. The team are a 2.5-point underdog for this weekend’s game against the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers but there are pundits, including those from ESPN, who believe that the Colts have an edge. They look at the Pittsburgh offense, which has failed to score more than 20 points in a single game this season, and believe that the Colts can overcome it.
No doubt, Irsay would agree. A hands-on owner who is said to have a tattoo of the Colts logo on his back, Irsay has worked with top notch players and coaches, including superstar quarterback Eli Manning, All-Pro player Edgerrin James and wide receiver Darnell Harrison Sr. who was named to the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team.
While Irsay has dealt with his share of challenges over the years – including a dependency on prescription pain medication, which, Irsay says, he has overcome – one thing he does not seem challenged by is his team’s head coach. Despite the less than great start, he remains gung-ho on coach Shane Steichen (who took the team to an 8-9 record last year and got them in the running to win the AFC South).
“I really think we hit the jackpot with him,” he told the Indianapolis broadcaster WISH TV, speaking of Steichen. “He’s just an outstanding football mind who demands excellence. But the players just love and respect him. It’s going to be interesting as time unravels to see what he can do.”
Considering Irsay’s optimism and 888’s Super Bowl betting odds (80/1) then it might be a good time to take a wild flyer on the Colts winning the big one this season.
Ultimately, despite his devotion to coaches, Irsay, whose interests outside of football include collecting rock stars’ guitars and original book manuscripts, realizes that running a football team requires making tough decisions. As a second-generation team owner, he’s dealt with his share. “Continuity is a great thing; staying the course and being patient, those are important virtues,” he told the New York Times. “But also there is virtue in being realistic enough to know you have to make serious changes sometimes.”
We’ll see if that time comes before the current season is over.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Adobe*
