{"id":263420,"date":"2025-11-05T13:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/263420\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T13:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:42:07","slug":"jordans-23xi-front-row-land-pretrial-win-in-antitrust-case-v-nascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/263420\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan’s 23XI, Front Row Land Pretrial Win in Antitrust Case v. NASCAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA federal judge issued a pretrial ruling on Tuesday that helps 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports prove their antitrust<\/a> case against NASCAR<\/a>. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell ruled that NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series is the only buyer for premier stock racing teams and that, because NASCAR \u201ceffectively has a 100% market share,\u201d it has monopsony power.<\/p>\n

\n\tBell granted summary judgment to 23XI and Front Row on those issues. He also denied summary judgment to NASCAR\u2014which insists that 23XI and Front Row can\u2019t prove damages\u2014against the antitrust claims.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be clear, Bell\u2019s order doesn\u2019t mean 23XI Racing and Front Row will win a jury trial, which is scheduled to start on Dec. 1. It also doesn\u2019t mean that whichever side wins the trial would also win an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a subsequent appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it\u00a0does\u00a0mean that 23XI Racing and Front Row won\u2019t have to establish the relevant market for antitrust analysis or NASCAR\u2019s monopsony power in the trial, as Bell has found they are already proven.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA monopsony, in the sports context, refers to an association that is effectively a single buyer of athletic services. The U.S. Supreme Court has held the NCAA has monopsony power over the buying of college athletes\u2019 services. In its litigation with LIV Golf, the PGA Tour was accused of having monopsony power over the buying of elite professional golfers. Bell views NASCAR along the same lines with respect to buying of teams\u2019 services.<\/p>\n

\n\tLed by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, 23XI and Front Row can now focus on trying to prove NASCAR used its market power to suppress compensation opportunities for teams and their drivers, including through exclusive dealing terms as a condition for hosting Cup Series events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch of the case concerns charters, which are multiyear contracts between NASCAR and teams that provide teams with guaranteed slots but contain noncompete language and require mutual release of potential legal claims. As 23XI and Front Row tell it, charters unduly restrain the market for premier stock racing teams. NASCAR, meanwhile, maintains charters enhance competition and have skyrocketed in value in recent years to the benefit of charter teams.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn explaining his ruling on the relevant market, Bell cited testimony by 23XI and Front Row expert Dr. Daniel Rascher, who asserts that premier stock car racing is, as summarized by Bell, \u201ca distinct form of automobile racing, and other types of motorsports like Formula 1 and IndyCar (as well as lower levels of stock car racing) are not substitute purchasers of these specific stock car racing services.\u201d NASCAR\u2019s expert, Dr. Kevin Murphy, concluded otherwise, finding that other motorsports are, in fact, substitutes in the same market.<\/p>\n

\n\tBell wrote that he does not need to decide whether Rascher or Murphy is right, because NASCAR\u2019s description of the market in its counterclaim against Front Row, 23XI and Curtis Polk\u2014who co-owns 23XI with Michael Jordan<\/a> and Denny Hamlin<\/a>\u2014is similar enough to what the plaintiffs assert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBell recently granted summary judgment<\/a> in favor of the plaintiffs on the counterclaim, which accused the plaintiffs of engineering an \u201cillegal cartel\u201d by allegedly forcing NASCAR to engage in joint, rather than individual, negotiations with teams and consequently to pay those teams more. Bell noted that NASCAR described the relevant market in the counterclaims as \u201cthe market for entry of cars into NASCAR Cup Series races in the United States and any other location where a Cup Series race is held.\u201d Bell bluntly wrote that NASCAR \u201cmust now live the consequences\u201d of how it described the relevant market in the counterclaim.<\/p>\n

\n\tNASCAR maintains that a major defect in the lawsuit is that 23XI and Front Row can\u2019t prove damages. NASCAR has insisted that its system for competition has grown the marketplace and increased value for teams and drivers\u2014along with increasing fan interest and broadcast deals. The association has also cited testimony by owners of other teams who essentially make the point that charters enhance, not harm, competition. Bell wasn\u2019t persuaded, writing that logic \u201cis not a basis to award summary judgment\u201d to NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\n\tKeep in mind, Bell\u2019s order and accompanying legal analysis could form the basis of NASCAR appealing to the Fourth Circuit. NASCAR\u2019s lead attorney, Christopher Yates, has an impressive record in sports antitrust litigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Fourth Circuit is the same appellate that, over the summer, reversed an injunction issued by Bell against NASCAR. The Fourth Circuit was\u00a0highly critical<\/a>\u00a0of Bell\u2019s reasoning, suggesting he was endorsing legal viewpoints unsupported by case precedent.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, Kessler said he and his clients are \u201cvery pleased\u201d with Bell\u2019s order. He said it means \u201cthe trial can now be focused on whether NASCAR has maintained that power through anticompetitive acts and used that power to harm teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNASCAR also issued a statement, saying it has \u201cdone nothing anticompetitive in building the sport from the ground up since 1948\u201d and has instead gained success \u201cthrough hard work, risk-taking, and many significant investments.\u201d NASCAR also said Bell\u2019s ruling is \u201clegally flawed\u201d and the association \u201cwill address it at trial and in the Fourth Circuit if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhether the trial happens shouldn\u2019t be taken as a given. As parties near a trial, sometimes they find the prospect of a settlement more appealing and less risky. Don\u2019t be surprised if that happens here.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge issued a pretrial ruling on Tuesday that helps 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports prove…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[4997,49,48,3932,4998,3004,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-263420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-antitrust","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-denny-hamlin","12":"tag-federal-courts","13":"tag-michael-jordan","14":"tag-nascar","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}