For months now, the ongoing NASCAR vs 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports saga has been dragging. To sum up, it all started when the two teams filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the sport. Their grievance was that NASCAR was operating as a monopoly and the charter system was an antitrust violation. Obviously, the sport was not about to take the accusations lying down from the Denny Hamlin owned team, and FRM.
What followed next, over the course of several months, the two parties have been suing and countersuing. The latest development is that NASCAR is seeking permission from the court to amend its counterclaim. Apparently, they have recently discovered some new evidence, thanks to perusing around 200,000 pages of emails, texts, and memoranda. The sport has accused the two teams of illegally colluding to obtain better charter terms. This was in response to 23XI’s claims that joint negotiations were not necessary when individual negotiations are possible. One thing is for sure, this saga is not dying down any time soon.
How is the Denny Hamlin-owned team combating the matter?
As per the latest developments, FRM and 23XI wanted to compare NASCAR’s operations with other major sports leagues. This includes the likes of the NFL, NBA, NHL and Formula One. In light of this, the two teams went and issued subpoenas to these various sports leagues.
A statement read, “Plaintiffs seek four categories of information … showing team and league revenues and how those revenues are split between the league and its teams. That information will enable Plaintiffs to perform a yardstick comparison between the other major professional sports leagues (where competition is not precluded) and NASCAR (where exclusionary conduct has been used to unlawfully maintain a monopoly).”
However, the NFL has hit back and declared that they won’t hand over highly confidential data. Especially since that data could end up in the hands of the NFL’s most consistent legal opponents. All in all, this is becoming a massive mess with no end in sight in the long run, with neither party giving an inch.
NASCAR fans feel that the sport was getting desperate
On Reddit, one fan said, “I’m still kind of confused about this counter claim? Is Nascar’s angle here that 23XI/FRM supposedly never had intentions of negotiating and trying to prove the entire plan was to run the time out and then sue?”
Another person concurred, “I don’t personally understand any of this (or the law, or what specifically this violates) but I assume based on their earlier example, NASCAR is trying to prove there were back channel conspiring let by MJ’s guy going on. E.g. ‘in discovery, we found and email Curtis Polk sent all the teams saying ‘threaten NASCAR with X if they don’t up the percentage we all get, and we’ll help you with Y’.”
However the general consensus was that the sport has no leg to stand on against the Denny Hamlin lawsuit. One person noted, “In my expert legal analysis, nascar is grasping at straws. Of course everybody was having conversations trying to get a better charter agreement.”
Someone else predicted that things could get ugly, “NASCAR wants to amend their counterclaim after going through 200,000 pages of emails, texts, and memos from discovery. To me, it looks like they’re reaching. They’re up against an owner with unlimited money who actually cares about the sport. Denny is fully invested, and Jordan isn’t just competitive, he’s famously petty. That’s what makes this so interesting. The real question is how much does Jordan want to put into this. If he’s really motivated, that has to be a scary thought for NASCAR.”
Finally, they said, “NASCAR is desperate! They know they’re losing in both the courts and with the fans! It’s now about clinging to power and trying to save face. Ii seem to remember that teams tried to unionize at one time, and Bill France Sr. threatened to ban for life anyone who joined, so it died out. So, they’re probably terrified that teams today will try it again, so they’re fighting tooth and nail to hang onto their control of the charters to keep it from happening again.( full disclosure, i was a 9 or 10 yr old girl when this happened in the early 70s, but I heard recounts of it on various TV shows and race broadcasts)”. At the end of the day, it looks like this mess is going to drag on for the foreseeable future.
The post Fans Warn NASCAR Against Denny Hamlin as France Family Digs Their Own Grave with ‘Desperate’ Accusations appeared first on EssentiallySports.