Latest news with #CurtisPolk
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Hamlin undeterred by ruling siding with NASCAR in lawsuit filed by Jordan-owned 23XI and Front Row
FILE - Michael Jordan, center, and Curtis Polk, left, co-owners of 23XI Racing, watch during qualifying beside 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta, right, for a NASCAR Cup Series Championship auto race, Nov. 9, 2024, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher, file) Denny Hamlin waits to be introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Denny Hamlin waits to be introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) FILE - Michael Jordan, center, and Curtis Polk, left, co-owners of 23XI Racing, watch during qualifying beside 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta, right, for a NASCAR Cup Series Championship auto race, Nov. 9, 2024, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher, file) Denny Hamlin waits to be introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Denny Hamlin is unfazed that a three-judge federal appellate panel vacated an injunction that required NASCAR to recognize 23XI, which he owns with Michael Jordan, and Front Row as chartered teams as part of an antitrust lawsuit. 'That's just such a small part of the entire litigation,' Hamlin said Saturday, a day ahead of the FireKeepers Casino 400. "I'm not deterred at all. We're in good shape.' Advertisement Hamlin said Jordan feels the same way. 'He just remains very confident, just like I do,' Hamiln said. NASCAR has not commented on the latest ruling. 23XI and Front Row sued NASCAR late last year after refusing to sign new agreements on charter renewals. They asked for a temporary injunction that would recognize them as chartered teams for this season, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday ruled in NASCAR's favor. 'We're looking at all options right now,' Hamlin said. The teams, each winless this year, said they needed the injunction because the current charter agreement prohibits them from suing NASCAR. 23XI also argued it would be harmed because Tyler Reddick's contract would have made him a free agent if the team could not guarantee him a charter-protected car. Advertisement Hamlin insisted he's not worried about losing drivers because of the uncertainty. 'I'm not focused on that particularly right this second,' he said. Reddick, who was last year's regular-season champion and competed for the Cup title in November, enters the race Sunday at Michigan ranked sixth in the Cup Series standings. The charter system is similar to franchises in other sports, but the charters are revocable by NASCAR and have expiration dates. The six teams may have to compete as 'open' cars and would have to qualify on speed each week to make the race and would receive a fraction of the money. Advertisement Without a charter, Hamlin said it would cost the teams 'tens of millions,' to run three cars. 'We're committed to run this season open if we have to,' he said. 'We're going to race and fulfill all of our commitments no matter what. We're here to race. Our team is going to be here for the long haul and we're confident of that.' The antitrust case isn't scheduled to be heard until December. NASCAR has not said what it would do with the six charters held by the two organizations if they are returned to the sanctioning body. There are 36 chartered cars for a 40-car field. 'We feel like facts were on our side,' Hamlin said. 'I think if you listen to the judges, even they mentioned that we might be in pretty good shape.' ___ AP auto racing:
CTV News
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Michael Jordan is joining NBC as a special contributor for its NBA coverage
Michael Jordan, centre, and Curtis Polk, left, co-owners of 23XI Racing, watch during qualifying beside 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta, right, for a NASCAR Cup Series Championship auto race, Nov. 9, 2024, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher, file)
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
23XI, Front Row seek courts to compel NBA, NFL, NHL, Formula 1 to share relevant financial info
Attorneys representing 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have asked courts in New York and Colorado to order Liberty Media Corporation, owner of Formula 1, the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball to share financial documents showing how each league shares revenue with its teams. The two Cup teams asked the court in a March 31 filing to compel the NFL, NBA and NHL to produce documents requested. The two Cup teams filed a memorandum Monday for the court to compel Liberty Medial to share requested financial information. This is a part of the antitrust lawsuit 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR last year. The case is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 1. NASCAR is contesting the suit and countersued the two teams on March 5. NASCAR countersues 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk NASCAR stated in court documents that the two teams and Curtis Polk 'embarked on a strategy to threaten, coerce, and extort NASCAR into meeting their demands for better contract and financial terms.' Dustin Long, Dustin Long, In court papers, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports stated why documents from the other leagues are important: "NASCAR has exploited its monopoly power to impose anticompetitive terms on the teams that compete in Cup Series races, including by providing teams with lower shares of revenues (such as TV revenues from NASCAR's $7.7 billion media rights deal) than they would receive in a competitive market. … Plaintiffs' subpoenas to the leagues seek financial information relevant to proving antitrust injury and calculating the damages incurred by Plaintiffs under the well-accepted 'yardstick' measure of estimating damages in an antitrust litigation.' The two Cup teams seek documents that show team and league revenues and how those are split. The two Cup teams also seek valuations of expansion or current teams in those leagues. The two Cup teams seek information from Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2024. NASCAR's charter system debuted ahead of the 2016 season. In court documents, the two Cup teams state that the NHL, NFL and NBA have refused to provide information on revenue and valuation information. Major League Baseball, citing the start of its season, requested additional time to respond. The NFL and NBA objected in court documents, stating: "The Subpoena is based on the flimsiest of premises: that because Plaintiffs are suing NASCAR, they can obtain -by way of federal process - financials, financial projections, research, studies, analyses, and other highly confidential, proprietary, and commercially sensitive information belonging to almost every other major sports league in the United States. To be clear, there is no legitimate basis for any assertion that the information sought has any direct connection to the substantive dispute between the parties or that the Subpoena complies with the strictures of the Federal Rules." Liberty Media stated, in court documents, its objections to the sharing its financial info, noting, among other reasons, that 'Liberty Media objects to the Subpoena because it is overbroad and unduly burdensome and seeks documents that are neither relevant to claims or defenses in, nor proportionate to the needs of, the Action.'
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
23XI and Front Row call NASCAR countersuit on antitrust claims an "act of desperation"
FILE - Hornets managing partner Curtis Polk, left, looks on during a news conference for the NBA basketball team in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, file) FILE - Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports and Co-Owner Michael Jordan, of 23XI Racing, pose before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 6, 2024, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill, file) FILE - Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports and Co-Owner Michael Jordan, of 23XI Racing, pose before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 6, 2024, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill, file) FILE - Hornets managing partner Curtis Polk, left, looks on during a news conference for the NBA basketball team in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, file) FILE - Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports and Co-Owner Michael Jordan, of 23XI Racing, pose before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 6, 2024, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill, file) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The two teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations said Wednesday in a filing that a countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan's manager is 'an act of desperation" and asked that it be dismissed. NASCAR's countersuit contends that Jordan business manager Curtis Polk 'willfully' violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements. 23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer 48 hours before the start of NASCAR's playoffs. Advertisement The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week's field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI — co-owned by Jordan — and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly. Wednesday's filing claims that NASCAR's counterclaim is 'retaliatory' and 'does not allege the facts necessary to state a claim.' 'NASCAR is using the counterclaim to engage in litigation gamesmanship, with the transparent objective of intimidating the other racing teams by threatening them with severe consequences if they support Plaintiffs' challenge to the unlawful NASCAR monopoly,' the response says. 23XI and Front Row have requested NASCAR's counterclaim be dismissed because it "fails at the threshold because it does not allege facts plausibly showing a contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade. Advertisement 'The counterclaim allegations instead show each racing team individually determining whether or not to agree to NASCAR's demands through individual negotiations — the opposite of a conspiracy.' The filing also defends Polk, who was specifically targeted in NASCAR's counterclaim as the mastermind of the contentious two-year battle between the teams and the stock car series. NASCAR claimed in its countersuit that Polk threatened a team boycott of Daytona 500 qualifying races, but the teams argued Wednesday 'there is no allegation that such a threatened boycott of qualifying races ever took place.' 'None of NASCAR's factual claims fit into the very narrow categories of blatantly anti-competitive agreements that courts summarily condemn as per se unlawful,' the teams said. Jordan, through a spokesperson, sent word to The Associated Press that Polk speaks for him and the NBA icon views any attack on Polk as 'personal.' Advertisement NASCAR's attorney has warned that a consequence of the 23XI and Front Row lawsuit could lead to the abolishment of the charter system outright — NASCAR argues it would be a consequence and not what NASCAR actually wants to do — and that 23XI first made this personal by naming NASCAR chairman Jim France in the original antitrust lawsuit. But, the teams struck back at the threat to eliminate the charter system in Wednesday's filing. It alleges it is an empty threat meant to scare the 13 organizations that did sign the charter agreements. The claim also says Front Row should be dismissed from NASCAR's countersuit because 'NASCAR does not allege any specific conduct by Front Row or its owners or employees to support a claim that it participated in the alleged conspiracy.' 'The other allegations in the counterclaim against Front Row are all entirely conclusory or improper group pleading that seeks to lump in Front Row with 23XI Racing, Mr. Polk, and 'others,' while never identifying what — if anything — Front Row Motorsports itself has done to purportedly participate in the alleged conspiracy.' There is no deadline for a judge's decision. ___ AP auto racing:
Associated Press
08-03-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
NASCAR countersues 23XI and Front Row, as well as Michael Jordan's manager, in dispute over charters
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR's revenue-sharing charter system is under threat of being disbanded, according to a Wednesday counterclaim filed by the stock car series against Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports that singles out Jordan's longtime business manager. The contentiousness began after more than two years of negotiations on new charter agreements — NASCAR's equivalent of a franchise model — and the 30-page filing contends that Jordan business manager Curtis Polk 'willfully' violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements. 23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer a mere 48 hours before the start of NASCAR's playoffs. The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week's field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly. NASCAR already has lost one round in court in which the two teams have been recognized as chartered organizations for the 2025 season as the legal dispute winds through the courts. NASCAR has also appealed a decision to have the case dismissed. 'Today's counterclaim by NASCAR is a meritless distraction and a desperate attempt to shift attention away from its own unlawful, monopolistic actions,' said attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who is representing 23XI and Front Row. 'NASCAR agreed to the joint negotiations that they now attack. When those joint negotiations failed, they used individual negotiations to impose their charter terms, which most of the teams decided they had no choice but to accept.' What is NASCAR counterclaiming? In the counterclaim, Polk is repeatedly singled out as the ringleader against the current charter proposals. NASCAR attorney Christopher Yates went so far as to tell The Associated Press that Polk, who in addition to being Jordan's business manager is a co-owner of 23XI along with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, does not understand the NASCAR business model. 'Curtis Polk basically orchestrated and threatened a boycott of one of the qualifying races for a major event and others did not go along with him,' Yates said. 'He got other teams to boycott a meeting that was required by the charter. When you have a threatened boycott of qualifying races that are covered by media, that's not a good thing for other race teams, not a good thing when you are trying to collectively grow the sport.' The qualifying race in question was the 2024 pair of 150-mile duels that set the field for the Daytona 500. 'I don't think Mr. Polk really understands the sport,' Yates told the AP. 'I think he came into it and his view is it should be much more like the NBA or other league sports. But it's not. No motorsport is like that. He's done a lot of things that might work in the NBA or might be OK in the NBA but just are not appropriate in NASCAR.' Who is violating the antitrust act? NASCAR's complaint alleges 'the undisputed reality is that it is 23XI and FRM, led by 23XI's owner and sports agent Curtis Polk, that willfully violated the antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the terms of the 2025 Charter Agreements.' 'It is truly ironic that in trying to blow-up the Charter system, 23XI and FRM have sought to weaponize the antitrust laws to achieve their goals,' the counterclaim says, alleging Polk's threats are 'attempting to misuse the legal system as a last resort to secure new terms.' Entrepreneur Bob Jenkins owns Front Row Motorsports and joined 23XI in the lawsuit when he declined to sign the 2025 charter agreement last September. The counterclaim seeks to have the four combined charters held by 23XI and Front Row before the lawsuit be returned to NASCAR. 'There's a misperception out there that somehow 23IX and Front Row might achieve something that other teams can take advantage of, and that's just not right,' Yates told the AP. 'This is not going to be a renegotiation. NASCAR has no intent of renegotiating the terms of the charter. Front Row and 23XI are threatening the charter system and its continuation, and NASCAR is fine without the charter system. 'The charter system was created at the request of the teams. That was before 23XI and Curtis Polk's time; I don't think they understand that history. But if they succeed with their lawsuit and the charter system goes away, that's OK.' What do 23XI and Front Row want? Yates told the AP he's asked Kessler what is it the two teams want and cannot get a straight answer. He said the new charters guarantee teams nearly 50% of revenue. 'The mere fact that the lawsuit calls the system into question, I really think 23XI and Front Row are being pretty selfish in terms of what they are trying to do, and I don't think they are taking into account the 32 teams that have signed the charters and think it is a good deal for them,' Yates said. 'Do some of them think they should have gotten more? I'm sure. Does NASCAR think it should have gotten more? Absolutely. But NASCAR does not see the charter system as necessary.' Jordan has said he's suing NASCAR on behalf of all the teams so that even the smallest ones can receive equal footing in terms of benefits as a participant in the top motorsports league in the United States. 'My clients' lawsuit has always been about transforming NASCAR into a more competitive and fair sport for the benefit of drivers, fans, sponsors and teams because of their love of the sport,' Kessler said. 'Every major sport goes through a transition to competition when antitrust claims are asserted, and that moment has come for NASCAR. Today's baseless filing changes nothing. We are confident in the strength of our case and look forward to presenting it at trial.' Among the improvements in the 2025 charters is a more equitable revenue share, but missing is the demand that teams wanted the charters to become permanent. NASCAR at its discretion can claw back charters from underperforming teams or eliminate the system completely. Yates said NASCAR has no intention of renegotiating the charters signed in September, nor did he see a scenario in which NASCAR settles the lawsuit. He said the discovery process already has begun. Trial is set for December, should the case not be dismissed before then. 'Polk and 23XI's other owners openly professed that they wanted to change NASCAR's economic model by demanding more money for the teams from NASCAR media revenues, instead of teams competing against each other,' Yates said. 'However, 23XI and FRM did not merely reject the terms of the 2025 Charters. Rather, those teams embarked on a strategy to threaten, coerce, and extort NASCAR into meeting their demands for better contract and financial terms.' ___
