NASCAR has accused Michael Jordan’s race staff of being a part of an “unlawful cartel” in a fiery lawsuit.
Jordan’s 23XI Racing, Jordan’s longtime enterprise supervisor, Curtis Polk, and one other staff, Entrance Row Motorsports, allegedly schemed to “stress” NASCAR throughout negotiations of constitution agreements, “together with by participating in media campaigns, interfering with NASCAR’s broadcast settlement negotiations, threatening boycotts of NASCAR occasions and interesting in a gaggle boycott of a NASCAR Group Proprietor Council Assembly,” according to legal documents reported by The Athletic.
NASCAR’s Wednesday countersuit follows a federal go well with filed by 23XI and Entrance Row in October, which accused NASCAR of “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices.”
Jeffrey Kessler, an lawyer representing 23XI and Entrance Row, slammed the countersuit in an announcement, calling it “a meritless distraction and a determined try to shift consideration away from its personal illegal, monopolistic actions.”
“My purchasers’ lawsuit has at all times been about reworking NASCAR right into a extra aggressive and truthful sport for the good thing about drivers, followers, sponsors and groups due to their love of the game,” Kessler added. “Each main sport goes via a transition to competitors when antitrust claims are asserted, and that second has come for NASCAR. As we speak’s baseless submitting adjustments nothing. We’re assured within the power of our case and look ahead to presenting it at trial.”
The contentiousness started after greater than two years of negotiations on new constitution agreements — NASCAR’s equal of a franchise mannequin — and the 30-page submitting contends that Jordan enterprise supervisor Polk “willfully” violated antitrust legal guidelines by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in reference to the newest constitution agreements.
23XI and Entrance Row had been the one two organizations out of 15 that refused to signal the brand new agreements, which had been offered to the groups final September in a take-it-or-leave-it provide a mere 48 hours earlier than the beginning of NASCAR’s playoffs.
The charters had been fought for by the groups forward of the 2016 season and twice have been prolonged. The most recent extension is for seven years to match the present media rights deal and assure 36 of the 40 spots in every week’s discipline to the groups that maintain the charters, in addition to different monetary incentives. 23XI and Entrance Row refused to signal and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France household that owns the inventory automotive collection are a monopoly.
NASCAR already has misplaced one spherical in court docket through which the 2 groups have been acknowledged as chartered organizations for the 2025 season because the authorized dispute winds via the courts. NASCAR has additionally appealed a choice to have the case dismissed.
Within the counterclaim, Polk is repeatedly singled out because the ringleader in opposition to the present constitution proposals. NASCAR lawyer Christopher Yates went as far as to inform The Related Press that Polk, who along with being Jordan’s enterprise supervisor is a co-owner of 23XI together with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, doesn’t perceive the NASCAR enterprise mannequin.
“Curtis Polk mainly orchestrated and threatened a boycott of one of many qualifying races for a significant occasion and others didn’t go together with him,” Yates mentioned. “He obtained different groups to boycott a gathering that was required by the constitution. When you may have a threatened boycott of qualifying races which might be lined by media, that’s not a great factor for different race groups, not a great factor if you find yourself making an attempt to collectively develop the game.”
The qualifying race in query was the 2024 pair of 150-mile duels that set the sphere for the Daytona 500.
“I don’t suppose Mr. Polk actually understands the game,” Yates instructed the AP. “I feel he got here into it and his view is it must be rather more just like the NBA or different league sports activities. But it surely’s not. No motorsport is like that. He’s accomplished lots of issues that may work within the NBA or could be OK within the NBA however simply usually are not applicable in NASCAR.”
