{"id":333487,"date":"2025-12-09T00:46:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T00:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333487\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T00:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T00:46:10","slug":"economist-says-nascar-owes-364-7m-to-teams-in-antitrust-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333487\/","title":{"rendered":"Economist says NASCAR owes $364.7M to teams in antitrust case"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 An economist testified in Michael Jordan\u2019s federal antitrust<\/a> trial against NASCAR that the racing series owes a combined $364.7 million in damages to the two teams suing it over a revenue-sharing dispute.<\/p>\n

Edward Snyder, a professor of economics who worked in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice and has testified in more than 30 cases, including \u201cDeflategate\u201d involving the NFL\u2019s New England Patriots, testified on Monday. He gave three specific reasons NASCAR is a monopoly participating in anticompetitive business practices.<\/p>\n

Using a complex formula applied to profits, a reduction in market revenue, and lost revenue to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports from 2021-24, Snyder came up with his amount of damages owed. Snyder applied a 45% of revenue sharing he alleged Formula 1 gives to its teams in his calculations; Snyder found that NASCAR\u2019s revenue-sharing model when its charter system began in 2016 gave only 25% to the teams.<\/p>\n

The suit is about the 2025 charter agreement, which was presented to teams on a Friday in September 2024 with a same-day deadline to sign the 112-page document. The charter offer came after more than two years of bitter negotiations between NASCAR and its teams, who have called the agreement \u201ca take-it-or-leave-it\u201d<\/a> ultimatum that they signed with \u201ca gun to their head.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

A charter is similar to the franchise model in other sports, but in NASCAR it guarantees 36 teams spots in the 40-car field, as well as specific revenue.<\/p>\n

Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin<\/a> for 23XI, along with Front Row Motorsports and owner Bob Jenkins, were the only two teams out of 15 to refuse the new charter agreement.<\/p>\n

Snyder\u2019s evaluations found NASCAR was in fact violating antitrust laws in that the privately owned racing series controls all bargaining because \u201cteams don\u2019t have anywhere else to sell their services.\u201d Snyder said NASCAR controls \u201cthe tracks, the teams and the cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snyder repeatedly cited exclusivity agreements NASCAR entered into with racetracks after the charter system began. The agreements prevent tracks that host NASCAR from holding events with rival racing series. Prior to the long-term agreements, NASCAR operated on one-year contracts with its host racetracks.<\/p>\n

The Florida-based France family founded NASCAR in 1948 and, along with Speedway Motorsports, owns almost all the tracks on the top Cup Series schedule. Snyder\u2019s belief is that NASCAR entered into exclusivity agreements with tracks to stave off any threats of a breakaway startup series. In doing so, he said it eliminated teams\u2019 ability to race stock cars anywhere else, forced them to accept revenue-sharing agreements that are below market value, and damaged their overall evaluations.<\/p>\n

Snyder did his calculations for both teams based on each having two charters \u2014 each purchased a third charter in late 2024 \u2014 and found 23XI is owed $215.8 million while Front Row is owed $148.9 million. Based on his calculations, Snyder determined NASCAR shorted 36 chartered teams $1.06 billion from 2021-24.<\/p>\n

Snyder noted NASCAR had $2.2 billion in assets, an equity value of $5 billion and an investment-grade credit rating \u2014 which Snyder believes positions the France family to be able to pivot and adjust to any threats of a rival series the way the PGA did in response to the LIV Golf league. The PGA, Snyder testified, \u201cgot creative\u201d in bringing in new revenue to pay to its golfers to prevent their defections.<\/p>\n

Snyder also testified NASCAR had $250 million in annual earnings from 2021-24 and the France family took $400 million in distributions during that period.<\/p>\n

NASCAR contends Snyder\u2019s estimations are wrong, that the 45% F1 model he used is not correct, and its own two experts \u201ctake serious issue\u201d with Snyder\u2019s findings. Defense attorney Lawrence Buterman asked Snyder his opinion on NASCAR\u2019s upcoming expert witnesses and Snyder said they were two of the best economists in the world. <\/p>\n

Slow pace of trial<\/p>\n

Snyder testified for almost the entirety of Monday\u2019s session \u2014 the sixth day of the trial \u2014 and will continue on Tuesday. The snail\u2019s pace has agitated U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, who heard arguments 30 minutes early Monday morning because he was annoyed that objections had been submitted at 2:55 a.m. and then 6:50 a.m.<\/p>\n

He needed an hour to get through the rulings, and testimony resumed 30 minutes behind schedule. When the day concluded, he asked the nine-person jury if they were willing to serve an hour longer each day the rest of the week in an effort to avoid a third full week of trial. He all said all motions must be filed by 10 p.m. each evening moving forward.<\/p>\n

Bell wants plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler to conclude his case by the end of Tuesday, but Kessler told him he still plans to call NASCAR chairman Jim France<\/a>, NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps and Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress, who was the subject of derogatory text messages amongst NASCAR leadership and has said he\u2019s considering legal action. <\/p>\n

NASCAR has a list of 16 potential witnesses and Bell said he wanted the first one on the stand before Tuesday\u2019s session concludes.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 An economist testified in Michael Jordan\u2019s federal antitrust trial against NASCAR that the racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[23704,1428,2571,22863,140392,49,48,3932,146751,8638,6388,2841,146710,40456,114890,146752,146753,7741,129031,3004,65746,634,22866,22864,22865,9535,109466,517,82,1445,31174,17988,2845,4137],"class_list":["post-333487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-al-state-wire","tag-alabama","tag-auto-racing","tag-automobile-racing","tag-bob-jenkins","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-edward-snyder","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-general-news","tag-industry-regulation","tag-jeffrey-kessler","tag-jim-france","tag-kenneth-bell","tag-lawrence-buterman","tag-lawsuits","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-michael-jordan","tag-monopoly-and-antitrust","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-racing","tag-nc-state-wire","tag-north-carolina","tag-richard-childress","tag-sc-state-wire","tag-south-carolina","tag-sports","tag-tennessee","tag-tn-state-wire","tag-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-u-s-news","tag-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333487","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=333487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}