{"id":347183,"date":"2025-12-15T17:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347183\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T17:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:47:10","slug":"dale-earnhardt-jr-believes-nascar-settlement-could-lead-to-charters-becoming-franchises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347183\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes NASCAR settlement could lead to charters becoming franchises"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR HOFer and JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. \u201chypothesized\u201d last week prior to NASCAR\u2019s antitrust settlement<\/a> that permanent charters would \u201ceffectively make the Cup Series a franchise model like stick-and-ball sports while also drastically increasing the value of those who own them,\u201d according to Matt Weaver of MOTORSPORT. Now, following the settlement, these are \u201call valid points.\u201d Earnhardt said if those charters \u201cwere to become permanent and therefore basically a franchise, the values are well north of $150 million.\u201d Earnhardt: \u201cSo, you\u2019re sitting there with a charter that\u2019s worth let\u2019s say $25 million and by the stroke of Jim France\u2019s pen, it will now be $150 million.\u201d The Earnhardts, who own JR Motorsports and want to compete in the Cup Series as full-time entrants someday, \u201cknow the barrier to entry is going to increase tremendously now.\u201d Earnhardt: \u201cYou\u2019ll basically have 36 franchises — however many cars start a race — they\u2019ll be the franchises, owned and valued and they will sell and trade from one entity to another over the course of decades and centuries, however long this goes. They\u2019ll be a gigantic barrier of entry\u201d (MOTORSPORT, 12\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n

PUT UP A FIGHT: Lead counsel for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports Jeffrey Kessler said, \u201cThis is reminiscent for me of many sports that have gone through a transformative model. … No one wanted this litigation but NASCAR didn\u2019t really give these teams any choice — you either submit to the bully or you fight. They\u2019re going to fight.\u201d He continued, \u201cWe think at the end of the day, NASCAR\u2019s going to have to change because that\u2019s what the legal system is going to require.\u201d RACER\u2019s Kelly Crandall wrote it \u201ctook 435 days for those words to come true\u201d (RACER, 12\/12<\/a>).<\/p>\n

NO PROBLEM: BLOOMBERG NEWS\u2019 Adam Minter wrote NASCAR did not \u201cseem to appreciate\u201d 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan not minding \u201cdoing whatever it takes to win.\u201d By late October, combined legal fees in the case approached $100M, but Jordan \u201cdidn\u2019t seem in any rush to stop spending.\u201d Minter added if NASCAR\u2019s financial resources \u201cdon\u2019t intimidate team owners, its power over the sport and willingness to bully often do.\u201d But Jordan \u201cdidn\u2019t flinch.\u201d The money, legal power and 23XI\u2019s refusal to retreat from racing were \u201cenough to show that if either side should\u2019ve been intimidated, it was NASCAR — not Jordan.\u201d Instead, NASCAR spent the past five years \u201cshowing [Jordan] that he\u2019d bought into an enterprise that can only improve if he sues it.\u201d A \u201cwin for Jordan was a win for NASCAR, too\u201d (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 12\/13<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR HOFer and JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. \u201chypothesized\u201d last week prior to NASCAR\u2019s antitrust settlement that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,14088,12716,634,82,4935],"class_list":["post-347183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-legal","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347183","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=347183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}