Late Sunday night, Colts owner Jim Irsay was pulled over and arrested by police in Carmel, a suburb of Indianapolis. The eccentric owner was later charged with four felony counts of possessing a controlled substance. That much has been known since Monday. What still remains in the air is just how Irsay’s arrest could affect the team moving forward in the offseason.
First and foremost, most NFL teams can operate just fine without their owner. The Colts are one team that really doesn’t need Irsay to operate. Other teams like the Cowboys would have difficulty finding their footing without their owners. Then there are the select teams, like the Redskins, that may actually function better without their owners. The Colts appear to be neutral in regard to Irsay’s presence with the team.
What may take a hit is hometown support. While Irsay has seen plenty of support for a successful rehab, but he’s also seen at least as much backlash. It’s a sad situation to be sure, but being arrested for an alleged DUI is a terrible offense. It’s now clear that Irsay is struggling with substance abuse, and there’s no doubt some fans have no tolerance for that sort of activity.
It’s unclear what kind of punishment Irsay could face from Roger Goodell and the rest of the NFL’s owners. Unless the NFL takes draft picks away, or levies some sort of salary cap penalty against the Colts, the likelihood that the team will suffer a hit to their ability to bring and keep talent to Indianapolis is also unlikely.
Personally, however, Irsay may see a huge hit to his personal bank accounts. Any fine that the NFL decides to assess should be huge. Owners make an incredible amount of money, and to make any sort of impact on them, Goodell has to be able to hit owners hard for big missteps.
Unfortunately, any penalty passed down to the Colts and Irsay will essentially serve the purpose of showing the public the NFL can take a hard stance against its own owners if it needs to. I suppose it’s possible that Irsay could be barred from attending games by being suspended, but anything Goodell does will be strictly temporary.
It’s impossible to know just how Irsay’s arrest will impact the Colts moving forward. They have a professional coaching staff and a group of young, hungry players (I won’t jinx them by saying a “youngry” team) that will certainly be able to carry on business as usual should Irsay be absent from the organization during any organized team activities and into training camp.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a big story line in the Colts’ offseason, but because it’s not a football-related problem, it probably won’t be tearing the Colts apart anytime soon. Until the situation is fully sorted out, however, it will hang as a dark cloud over the organization, meaning Irsay’s best move may be to simply take a step back from the team until he’s able to deal with any substance abuse problems he has and until his legal troubles are fully resolved.
