DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 01: 2024 Regular Season Champion, Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Upper Deck Toyota, poses with Curtis Polk, 23XI Racing co-owners, NBA Hall of Famer, Michael Jordan, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, after the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 01, 2024 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
NASCAR is in a stalemate with Michael Jordan and how it ends could potentially get very messy for both sides.
After more than two years of contentious negotiations over a new revenue agreement, NASCAR last weekend finally got 13 organizations — all but two — to sign a new deal.
The agreement was reached less than 48 hours before NASCAR’s playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and multiple teams told The Associated Press they felt pressured to take what was presented as a “take it or leave it final offer” with the clock ticking on a deadline to sign.
This may not be the win NASCAR would like it to be.
Who did not sign the agreement?
Jordan the 23XI Racing team he co-owns refused to sign the deal Front Row Motorsports, a much smaller organization, surprisingly took the same stance as high-powered 23XI.
23XI and Front Row are the only two current chartered organizations that did not sign extensions that run through 2031. Because of a non-disparagement clause NASCAR added to the latest offer, almost none of the teams that signed are willing to talk on the record about the negotiations and how they eventually gave up on three of their critical demands.
23XI is largely represented in the charter fight with NASCAR by co-owners Denny Hamlin and Jordan confidant Curtis Polk, who arrived at Atlanta with two typed pages of notes he read to reporters to explain why the team did not take NASCAR’s offer
Polk described the fight with NASCAR as “David facing Goliath,” with NASCAR essentially threatening to eliminate the charters if the deal wasn’t accepted by midnight. He said other teams “may have felt pressured and compelled to sign the agreement under significant duress.”
The position at 23XI was that the terms were “particularly harmful to our operations and our ownership group’s interests and intellectual property rights.”
What do the teams want?
The teams have always wanted four things out of the charter negotiations: a larger share of the revenue, a seat at the table for governance issues, a cut on business deals NASCAR does that uses team or driver likenesses, and, most importantly, for charters to become permanent, locking in stability.
