CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Retired NBA great Michael Jordan took the stand at historic NASCAR antitrust case and testified Friday that he has been a fan of the stock car series since childhood, but felt he had little choice but to file a lawsuit to force changes in a business model. He sees failing teams and drivers who risk their lives to keep the sport going.
Jordan testified for an hour before a packed courtroom.
His celebrity was criticized by a judge and even a lawyer when he explained why the team he co-owns, 23XI, joined Front Row Motorsports in taking on the top auto racing series in the United States.
“Someone had to step up and challenge the entity,” the soft-spoken Jordan told the jury. “I sat in those meetings with old owners who had been baffled for years trying to bring about change. I was a new person, I wasn’t afraid. I felt like I could challenge NASCAR as a whole. I felt the sport needed to be looked at from a different perspective.”
Jordan’s highly anticipated appearance followed dramatic testimony from Heather Gibbs, the daughter-in-law of race team owner Joe Gibbs, about the chaotic six-hour period during which teams had to sign extensions or forfeit the charters that guarantee revenue week after week during NASCAR’s 38-race season.
“The document was something you would never sign in business,” said Heather Gibbs, who is also a licensed real estate agent. “It was like a gun to your head: if you don’t sign, you have nothing.”
Charters are the equivalent of the franchise model used in other sports, and in NASCAR they guarantee every chartered car a spot in every race, plus a defined payout from the series. The system was created in 2016, and during more than two years of acrimonious renewal negotiations, teams begged to make the renewable charters permanent for revenue stability.
When NASCAR declined to make them permanent and gave teams six hours to sign the 112-page extension in September 2024, 23XI and Front Row Motorsports were the only two of the 15 organizations to decline. Instead, they filed an antitrust lawsuit and the trial opened Monday to hear their accusations that NASCAR is a monopolistic bully. 23XI is co-owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlinand Front Row is owned by fast food franchisor Bob Jenkins.
Jordan testified that 23XI purchased a third charter for $28 million in late 2024, even with all the uncertainty.
“I’m pretty sure they know I like to win,” the six-time NBA champion said. “Denny convinced me that getting a third driver would increase our chances of winning, so I dove in.”
Like other witnesses this week, Jordan described a NASCAR that declined to discuss options or possible changes to the charter system, which he supports. He was asked why 23XI didn’t sign the extensions last fall.
“First, I didn’t think it was economically viable. Second, it said you couldn’t sue NASCAR, that was an antitrust violation, I thought. Third, they gave us an ultimatum that I didn’t think was fair to 23XI,” Jordan said, adding, “I wanted a partnership and permanent charters weren’t even a consideration. The pillars that the teams wanted, no one on the NASCAR side even negotiated or compromised. They weren’t even open-minded to welcome it.” conversations, so this is where we ended up.”
Jordan was referring to the NBA business model, which shares about half of its revenue with players, far more than NASCAR.
“The revenue split was much smaller than any company I’ve ever been a part of. We didn’t think we’d ever achieve what basketball would achieve, but we wanted to move in that direction,” he said. “What I see in NASCAR and what I think is missing is a shared responsibility for both growth and loss.”
Jordan said he owns 60% of 23XI and has invested $35 million to $40 million in the team. Jenkins testified earlier this week that he has never made a profit since launching his NASCAR team in the early 2000s and estimates he has lost $100 million even while winning the 2021 Daytona 500.
Heather Gibbs previously told the jury how she became co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing the day after her husband Coy died unexpectedly in his sleep on the same night their son Ty won NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series championship in 2022.
Coy Gibbs had taken on a leadership role at JGR following the death of his older brother, JD, in 2019.
Because Gibbs had lost both of his sons and had built the team as a legacy for his family, his daughter-in-law played an active role in the organization and personally participated in the negotiations for the charter renewals.
When NASCAR made its final offer on Friday evening at 6 p.m., with just hours to sign, the agreement did not include permanent charters. Gibbs testified that the organization was devastated.
“Everything happened so quickly, Coy’s legacy, JD’s legacy, everyone at JGR was very upset,” she told the jury. She said her father-in-law called NASCAR Chairman Jim France and advocated for a resolution.
“Joe said, ‘Jim, you can’t do this,’” she said. “And Jim was done with the conversation.”
Heather Gibbs said she had to leave to take her son to a baseball game in Chapel Hill and left concerned about her father-in-law, who was 84 at the time.
“I made him sit in the dark and listened to his blood sugar meters,” she testified. “We decided we had to sign. We can’t lose everything. I didn’t think it was a fair deal for the teams.”
Joe Gibbs is both the owner of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the NFL Hall of Fame coach. He led the Washington football team to three Super Bowl titles and JGR has won five Cup Series championships.
JGR has 450 employees, charters four Cup cars and relies solely on outside sponsorship and investors to keep the team afloat. The team will celebrate its 35th season next year and Gibbs told the jury that JGR needs permanent charters to protect its investment in NASCAR.
“It’s the most important point, a permanent place in their history books,” she testified. “It is absolutely essential for the teams to know that we have certainty, that cannot be taken away, to know that what we have invested in is ours.”
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