Nascar accuses 23xi of “voluntarily” violation racing of antitrust laws, according to court documents. The company is a co -owner six times the NBA champion Michael Jordan.
A two -year controversial negotiation period on the new charter agreements led to the trial. The charters are The equivalent of nascar of a franchise model. The teams with charters receive a minimum of 36 places at every weekend of racing.
A 30 -page trial submitted in the western district of North Carolina argued that the Jordan entity, more specifically the commercial director Curtis Polk, bypassed antitrust laws by orchestrating anticoncurrential driving in relation to the most recent charter agreements. Polk is listed as a defendant in the file.
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November 9, 2024; Avondale, Arizona. Michael Jordan, owner of the 23xi of racing team, during the qualification for the championship race of the Cup series at Phoenix Raceway. (Images Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn)
First row Motorsports also refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September shortly before the start of the NASCAR qualifiers. The Bob Jenkins restaurant entrepreneur has motor sports at first row. In addition to Jordan, Polk and the Denny Hamlin pilot are 23xi Racing co -owners.
The charters were carried out by the teams before the 2016 season and were extended twice. The last extension is seven years to correspond to the current media rights agreement. 23XI and the first row refused to sign and continue, alleging that Nascar and the France family, owners of the stock of stocks of stocks, are a monopoly.
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Nascar was beaten in the first round before the court. The two teams were recognized as approved organizations for the 2025 season while the legal dispute set by the courts. Nascar also appealed to the decision to have the case reject.
“Nascar’s reconvention of today is an unlikely distraction and a desperate attempt to divert attention from its own illegal monopoly actions,” said lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, who represents 23X and the first row, in a press release.
October 27, 2024; Homestead, Florida, United States; Michael Jordan, owner of the 23xi team, looks during the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Jasen Vinlove-Imagn images)
“Nascar accepted the joint negotiations they are attacking now. When these joint negotiations have failed, they used individual negotiations to impose their charter conditions, which most of the teams decided that they had no choice but to accept.”
The reconvention request suggested that Polk was the leader in the fight against the proposals of the current charter. Nascar’s lawyer, Christopher Yates, told the Associated Press that Polk did not have a complete understanding of the Nascar business model.
The NASCAR CUP series logo as drivers run to Bristol Motor Speedway. (Mark Humphrey / Pool Photo via USA Today Network)
“Curtis Polk has essentially orchestrated and threatened the boycott of one of the qualification races for a major event, and others have not accompanied it,” said Yates. “He made other teams boycott a meeting that was required by the charter. When you have a boycott threatened with qualification races that are covered by the media, it is not a good thing for other racing teams, not a good thing when you try to develop sport collectively.”
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The qualification race in question was the pair of duels of 150 miles from last year who established the field for the Daytona 500.
“I don’t think Mr. Polk really understands sport,” said Yates. “I think he has entered place, and his point of view is that it should look a lot like the NBA or other League sports. But this is not the case.
Meanwhile, Jordan previously declared that he was pursuing Nascar on behalf of all the teams so that everyone can be on an equal footing in terms of services as a participant in the best car sports league in the United States
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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