A federal judge is urging Michael Jordan to settle his lawsuit against NASCAR out of court.
During a Tuesday hearing in Charlotte, Judge Ken Bell of North Carolina’s Western District attacked both sides of an antitrust lawsuit in a lawsuit over NASCAR’s charter system.
Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing, which he co-owns with racing legend Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports sued NASCAR in October calling the racing body “monopolistic bullies” that hoard revenue and push teams around in negotiations. The lawsuit came after both teams refused to sign a new charter agreement in September that the racing body offered.
Charters guarantee racing teams’ entry to Cup Series races and access to the league’s revenues. Thirteen racing teams signed charters in the fall, with some teams contending they had no leverage regarding the terms. In court, Bell urged both sides to settle because he doesn’t see either of them as victor should the case continue.
“It’s hard to picture a winner if this goes to the mat—or to the flag—in this case,” Bell said. “It scares me to death to think about what all this is costing.”
The hearing was requested by Jordan and the co-plaintiffs to dismiss NASCAR’s countersuit, which accuses Curtis Polk–Jordan’s business manager—of violating antitrust laws by trying to rally other racing teams against NASCAR during charter negotiations. In the case’s discovery, NASCAR said it learned that Polk tried to form a “cartel” that involved charters boycotting races and refusing to negotiate with the racing body individually. NASCAR alleged that Polk cited Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father, in his talks with racing teams: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Jordan is being represented by Jeffrey Kessler, a prominent antitrust attorney, who has represented Tom Brady in Deflategate and multiple professional sports unions. Kessler previously said NASCAR has failed to prove Polk or the Race Team Alliance did anything illegal while negotiating charters.
“NASCAR knows it has no defense to the monopolization case so they have come up with this claim about joint negotiations, which they agreed to, never objected to, and now suddenly it’s an antitrust violation,” Kessler told reporters outside court on Tuesday. “It makes absolutely no sense. It’s not going to help them deflect from the monopolizing they have done in this market and the harm they have inflicted.”
Kessler added that the plaintiffs are open to settlement talks, but said NASCAR isn’t interested in renegotiating the charters. He plans to file an appeal before the end of the week on a preliminary injunction that was dismissed by a court panel to mandate NASCAR to recognize 23XI and Front Row as chartered teams while the lawsuit is ongoing. Kessler wants the injunction heard by the full appellate court because it is irrelevant to the case’s merits.
There are 36 chartered cars for NASCAR’s 40-car weekly field. If 23XI and Front Row aren’t considered chartered, their six cars would have to compete as “open” teams, meaning they’d have to qualify weekly on speed in order to race and get less money than chartered teams.
Bell hasn’t indicated when he would issue a ruling, but said he would decide quickly. Both sides are due back in court June 24 for another hearing. The case is scheduled to go to trial in December.
