Michael Jordan Hits the Gas in NASCAR Lawsuit

There aren’t many individuals in the history of professional sports who have performed better during high stakes moments than Michael Jordan. Even though his NBA playing days are in the distant past, Jordan continues to rely on poise under pressure in a different type of court.

The Chicago Bulls legend took the stand in an antitrust case against NASCAR on December 5, stating that he felt the state of the sport needed to change.

“Someone had to step forward and challenge the entity. I sat in those meetings with longtime owners who were brow-beaten for so many years trying to make change. I was a new person, I wasn’t afraid. I felt I could challenge NASCAR as a whole. I felt as far as the sport, it needed to be looked at from a different view,” Jordan expressed.

Jordan co-owns a racing team called 23XI Racing along with racing icon Denny Hamlin. 23XI and another team, Front Row Motorsports, are suing NASCAR claiming that the longstanding racing organization has too much power on a variety of fronts.

Some of those issues include the revenue sharing structure NASCAR follows, as well as their policy with regards to charters and overriding decisions on which teams can participate in given races.

“The revenue split was far less than any business I’ve ever been a part of. We didn’t think we’d ever get to what basketball was getting but we wanted to move in that direction,” Jordan said. “The thing I see in NASCAR that I think is absent is a shared responsibility of growth as well as loss.”

While Jordan has said that he supports a charter system, he does not like how it currently operates. The setup has been in place since 2016, and it allowed 36 racing teams to purchase agreements that guaranteed their spot in races. The logic was that this would give the sport and the participating teams long term stability and a mutually invested partnership.

Reports indicate that teams receive around $9 million annually for their charter participation, but that it is not enough to cover overhead costs. NASCAR can also alter that payout and request teams to renew their charter at their preferred rate, leaving teams without much leverage if they want to keep their guaranteed place on the circuit.

Teams were allegedly given six hours to review and sign off on a 112-page charter extension in September 2024. It was at that point 23XI and Front Row Motorsports took a stand, deciding to file a lawsuit against NASCAR.

Jordan claims that he has invested between $35-$40 million in 23XI, and owns a 60% majority stake.

Michael Jordan gives race interview after huge NASCAR win https://t.co/Swds31AhCf pic.twitter.com/gbzHbn16f1

— The Comeback (@thecomeback) April 22, 2024

Economics professor Edward Snyder used to work in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, and believes that NASCAR owes a substantial amount of money. He testified a few days after Jordan did, calculating that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports are due nearly $365 million in damages.

Snyder backed the idea of NASCAR as a monopoly, saying that “teams don’t have anywhere else to sell their services,” and that the sport owns “the tracks, the teams and the cars.”

The lawsuit was settled on December 11, although terms of the settlement were not immediately available. NASCAR reportedly scheduled a call to discuss an adjusted revenue-sharing model with all racing teams.

“Today’s a good day,” Jordan said when the settlement was announced.