Michael Jordan Hired The Best Sports Lawyer In The Country To Go After NASCAR
As Michael Jordan challenges NASCAR’s business model in court, stunning financial details and explosive emails could lead to a $1 billion payout (or something much bigger).
While most media outlets have been fixated on the Paramount-WBD-Netflix deal, Michael Jordan has spent the last week sitting in a Charlotte, North Carolina, courthouse, testifying in one of the most consequential antitrust trials this year.
Here’s what you need to know: Two racing teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, have sued NASCAR for monopolistic and anticompetitive practices.
Among other things, which we’ll get into, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports claim that NASCAR has illegally used its monopoly power to control the sport’s financial structure, limiting team revenue and stifling competition through its charter system and other restrictive practices, such as controlling track access and car parts.
Court proceedings can sometimes feel like you are a teenager counting down the minutes for a high school class to end, but antitrust cases are different. The best way to learn how a business or industry really works is to pay attention to an antitrust trial.
Over the last week and a half alone, this trial has provided exclusive access to team and league financials, including annual profit-and-loss statements. For example, we now know how much money Michael Jordan has invested in 23XI Racing over the last five years ($40 million), the average expenses required to run a NASCAR Cup Series car each year ($20 million), how much money NASCAR lost on its three Chicago street races ($55 million), the total amount of money Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins has lost since entering the sport in 2005 ($100 million), and even how NASCAR strategically moves around its revenue to reduce its on-paper profits.
Plus, like any discovery process, some juicy emails and texts have emerged. NASCAR’s president once called team owner Richard Childress a “stupid redneck” who should be “taken out back and flogged,” while Michael Jordan laughed off the cost of signing a driver by telling his financial advisor, “I have lost that in a casino. Let’s do it.”
Michael Jordan Is Uniquely Positioned For A Fight
For those who aren’t up to speed on NASCAR, 23XI is a racing team owned by Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. The team began racing in 2021 and currently runs three cars, winning nine NASCAR Cup Series races.
Front Row Motorsports is another NASCAR Cup Series team. Owned by fast-food restaurant magnate Bob Jenkins, Front Row has fielded cars in the Cup Series since 2005. In total, Front Row has won four races over two decades, with the team’s most notable win coming when driver Michael McDowell won at the 2021 Daytona 500.
While rumors of legal fights have always existed beneath the surface, NASCAR teams have generally avoided confrontation for fear of retribution. At its core, NASCAR is a family business. Bill France founded NASCAR in 1948, and the France family still owns and runs it 77 years later, with four generations occupying leadership roles.
But while others were unwilling to risk the tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars that they had invested in the sport through cars, factories, drivers, equipment, and employees, Michael Jordan was uniquely positioned to take on the challenge.
Jordan has more money than he’ll ever need and is a lifelong NASCAR fan. He isn’t scared of what the France family will do because NASCAR isn’t his primary business.