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NBA legend Michael Jordan co-owns the 23XI Racing team in the American NASCAR championship, and recently co-signed a lawsuit against the sports authority accusing it of “unfair competitive practices and monopolistic control of the sport.”
Basketball superstar and iconic player of the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, bought a few years ago with Denny Hamlin the team he renamed 23XI Racing, which competes in NASCAR’s top Cup Series.
The name comes from the number 23 with which Michael Jordan competed in the NBA, combined with the No. 11 worn by Hamlin, a sports driver and three-time winner of the most important race of the institution – the Daytona 500.
Now it has come to light that Michael Jordan’s 23XI team along with Front Row Motorsports have jointly filed a lawsuit against NASCAR, which has been run (since its inception in 1948) by the French family dynasty. accusing it of practices that are against healthy competition.
23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan celebrates with team driver Tyler Reddick after winning the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway
AP PHOTO/BUTCH DILL
In particular, Jordan himself in the official announcement stated that “the way it is managed NASCAR today it is unfair to the teams, the drivers, the sponsors and the fans”.
But what caused this lawsuit? Those two teams have in the past refused to sign NASCAR’s new commercial agreement with the teams (something similar to the Concorde Pact that governs Formula 1’s commercial agreements). The other 13 of the 15 teams signed it, within a strict and inexorable deadline.
Front Row Motorsport and 23XI accuse NASCAR’s leadership of buying out the majority of the NASCAR faithful and forcing exclusivity agreements on the rest, and that by acquiring the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) it has gained control of the only competitive stock car racing championship. .
They also accuse her of preventing NASCAR teams from participating in other institutions, as well as forcing the sport’s teams to buy their components exclusively from suppliers she has chosen.
Kurt Busch’s 23XI Racing team’s previous win in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway
AP PHOTO/COLIN E. BRALEY
Michael Jordan said about it: “Everyone knows I’ve always been tough when they compete, and it’s that will to win that motivates me, along with the whole 23XI team, every week on the track.
I love the sport of auto racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to the teams, drivers, sponsors and fans. My action today shows that I am ready to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”
The official statement from the two groups accuses the French family of refusing to engage constructively and obstructing negotiations between the two sides, leaving litigation as their only option.
The above puts the 23XI and FRM teams in jeopardy in the 2025 NASCAR championship, but the release says a temporary injunction will be filed until the litigation is resolved.
The announcement concludes that “or 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will seek triple damages for the terms unfair competition to which the teams are subject, based on the 2016 agreement”.
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