Michael Jordan’s Team Drops Antitrust Appeal Against NASCAR (1)

Two racing teams, including one owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, voluntarily dropped an appeal challenging a decision that denied their request for a preliminary injunction against NASCAR in an antitrust case accusing the organization of monopolizing the stock car racing market.

Jordan’s team, 23XI, and Front Row Motorsports Inc. on Wednesday filed a motion for dismissal of the appeal, saying “circumstances have changed in the underlying case.” NASCAR removed an antitrust release requirement in its agreements, allowing 23XI and Front Row Motorsports to race as open teams next year, said Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for Winston & Strawn LLP, in a statement. Open teams don’t receive the money and benefits from NASCAR provided to its chartered teams.

The teams reversed course after Judge Frank D. Whitney of the US District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in early November ruled that the racing team plaintiffs failed to meet the burden for a preliminary injunction because they didn’t sufficiently allege present, immediate, urgent irreparable harm, but rather only “speculative, possible harm.”

23XI and Front Row Motorsports sued NASCAR in October, claiming the racing organization imposed anticompetitive terms on teams, including noncompete agreements preventing them from participating in races outside the NASCAR circuit.

The racing teams took issue with a provision in NASCAR charter agreements that would require teams to release any antitrust claims as a result of being forced to agree to the anticompetitive terms.

Attorneys for NASCAR said in a filing Thursday the racing organization didn’t oppose the plaintiffs’ voluntary decision to dismiss their appeal with prejudice. “The District Court correctly denied Plaintiff-Appellants’ request for a preliminary injunction after finding that they had failed to establish any irreparable harm. There is no need to expend the parties’ or this court’s time and resources on a meritless appeal of that ruling,” they said.

NASCAR is represented by Latham & Watkins LLP.

The case is 2311 Racing LLC v. NASCAR, 4th Cir., No. 24-02134, 11/20/24.