Michael Jordan is Suing NASCAR

And dare I say, he might just win

There’s a headline I never expected to write. Maybe a screenplay, sure — I’m available, by the way — but not a news article.

The rumors are true, though. His Airness thinks NASCAR’s ruling family could do to be humbled, and MJ, who now co-owns a racing team, seems to believe he’s the man for the job. Wouldn’t count him out.

Better yet, he’s filing my favorite kind of lawsuit. That’s right, everybody. It’s antitrust time yet again. We’re so back.

The suit, in true MJ fashion, does not mince words. This is the quote making the rounds, for good reason:

“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies. And bullies will continue to impose their will to hurt others until their targets stand up and refuse to be victims.”

It also makes the following salient point, which we should explain:

“No other major professional sport in North America is run by a single family that enriches themselves through these kinds of unchecked monopolistic practices.”

That part’s not really up for debate. NASCAR doesn’t have multiple owners in the same way that the NFL or NBA does. Their structure is more akin to a single franchise, like how Clark Hunt inherited the Chiefs, or Jeanne Buss inherited the Lakers.

A single family, the Frances, have owned NASCAR since its founding in 1948. We’re on our third France man to run the league. Until now, his leadership was grumbled over but ultimately undisputed. King of the castle.

And while the suit is a challenge to them, it’s more directly a challenge to the system that they oversee. That runs on these things called charters, which can best be thought of as membership cards.

NASCAR operates with 36 charters, each of which confers a spot in a given race. Some teams own multiple charters, thus giving them multiple cars in a given NASCAR race. The charters can be bought and sold, but once you have one, you’re in.

By owning a charter, you’re guaranteed a spots, apart from some stipulations based on poor performance, which allows NASCAR to boot you if you suck for three years straight. (Could we use that threat in other sports? Maybe. But that’s a topic for another day.¹)

The other stipulation is that they waive their right to participate in any other races put on by other leagues. Call it an exclusivity of services clause. That, unsurprisingly, comes up in the suit as well.

Now, this charter system is not grandfathered in by any means. It was first introduced in 2016, and it’s drawn grumbles ever since. In the current deal — notably not a CBA, which we’ll get to — teams get roughly 39% of the broadcast money, with 10% going to the tracks hosting the races, and the remaining 51% (!!!) going to NASCAR, which, to a significant degree, means the France family itself.

We don’t know exactly how much, which is a big part of the incentive that the Frances/NASCAR have to settle this suit before it ever gets close to court. Businesses like this aren’t usually very amenable to letting outsiders pore over their books, and it stands to reason that the Frances don’t look at that prospect any differently. They might prefer to make some concessions to their charter system long before it can ever reach that point.

So that’s one key aspect. The other argument Jordan’s suit is making is that racing teams like his are working with perilously thin margins. He points to a number of teams, even those that have been very successful — such as my personal favorite, Hendrick Motorsports — who are actually losing money by competing. Jeff Gordon came out and said the team hadn’t turned a profit in 10 years. Sounds like a Hendrick(s) alright. It’s for the love of the game!

I mentioned that there is no CBA in NASCAR, which is because there is no union, and that’s the main thing that leaves NASCAR open to an antitrust suit such as this. They’ve been brought before to no avail, most recently in 2009.

NASCAR can claim, and has before, that its unique structure actually promotes rather than limits competition. That might be a winning argument for them, especially considering that those charters are transferrable assets.² They’re not hoarding them, exactly. The issue Jordan is raising is that the value of a charter is capped at a lower ceiling than it should have by the revenue-sharing structure that underpins them.

Another fun note! Jordan is not bringing this case alone. He’s bringing the case with another team, Front Row Motorsports, and perhaps more importantly, he’s got the hottest of hotshot sports antitrust lawyers doing the paperwork.

That’d be Jeffrey Kessler, who you might remember as a starring guest in the hit podcast The Option the attorney who won some historic antitrust concessions from the NCAA in recent years, on top of face-offs with the NFL and NBA in years past.

He alone is an imposing factor, and he says he’s playing for keeps:

“We can’t give you a specific, ‘This will do it.’ There must be significant change… No one is bringing this type of fight, this type of lawsuit, to move from a (Grade) D-plus deal to a D deal. That is not going to happen.”

Historically, Kessler has gotten that approach to work. Past performance is not an indicator of future success, etc., but Jordan took a bad situation — one in which he was one of two holdouts left, seemingly having failed to lead a revolt against the Frances — and turned it on its head.

I’m not NASCAR’s attorneys, but I’d be worried. Jordan’s a winner, I’m told.

Also, This

🐯 First thing to note — can confirm. LSU is pretty fun. Thanks to the many readers of this newsletter who came out, and to the Louisianans who plied us with food and libations.

📺 Wanted to share something else cool that I got to work on lately. It’s a video on sports gambling by Search Party, a very cool YouTube channel run by an old friend of mine, Sam Ellis. They do great work, including — if I do say so myself — this episode:

💼 The Pac-12 went with Gonzaga after all, leaning into basketball. Funny thing about that is, because Gonzaga doesn’t field a football team, the Pac-12 still needs an 8th school that does if they want their conference champion to be automatically eligible for the College Football Playoff. And, spoiler alert, they definitely do want that. So the search continues.

🏀 It’s been a surprisingly good week for big-ticket trades. The one that has now officially happened is KAT heading to the Knicks, sending their odd man out, Julius Randle, to Minnesota. Still processing how I feel about that one, and how he’s going to respond to New York media coverage, but I think I like the move for both teams? Confusing.

🏈 And then we’ve got Davante Adams officially asking out. Who knows when that gets done, but the obvious landing spot would be a reunion with Aaron Rodgers in… New York! Wouldn’t say no to the Commanders route, though. How about that Jayden Daniels, eh sports fans?

⚾. Maybe it’s just a great week for New York? As well as the underdogs in the Wild Card round? The Mets are through, the Royals are through, the friggin’ Tigers are through. I couldn’t believe that very specific stat last night. How is it even possible that Pete Alonso is the first guy ever to hit a game-winning HR with his team trailing in the 9th or later in a winner-take-all playoff game? But, apparently, that is the case. Crazy. Absolutely nuts. God, I love October.

1. I shall call it: The Relegation Essay!

2. I’ll point to Michael McCann’s piece in Sportico for a far more informed explanation of what they might look to argue.