Reports have confirmed that basketball legend Michael Jordan is suing NASCAR and its CEO Jim France, calling them “monopolistic bullies.”
Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a lawsuit in a federal court in North Carolina yesterday (Oct. 2) after the two teams say they refused to sign updated pacts with NASCAR over “unfair terms.”
Both teams demanded more when extending their charter agreements beyond 2024, but neither NASCAR nor France was willing to negotiate their share of the revenue. Both teams claim the organization pressured them into agreeing to a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer that if they did not agree to, they could risk losing their charters in the future.
Both teams filed a suit and an injunction allowing them to compete in the 2025 season without releasing their antitrust claims by putting pen to France’s paper.
Both teams said they wanted to stifle France’s and NASCAR’s “unlawful monopoly power.”
“I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans,” Jordan said of the lawsuit in a statement, “but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans. Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”
Jordan’s 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin said, “When I look around, I see that the best and most competitive sports in the world understand that when teams thrive, fans benefit, and that everyone who invests in making the sport a success should share fairly in that success. With the right changes, we can certainly make that a reality in racing.”
