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The 23XI and Front Row Motorsports antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR is already a major bullet point in NASCAR’s 76-year history. However, while change may not be imminent, what are these two teams trying to achieve with this lawsuit?
For most of NASCAR’s history, NASCAR, the sanctioning body owned by the France family, has hosted the races while the teams entered them. Though dependent on each other, the two entities were financially separated.
NASCAR would make its money off the title sponsorship, merchandise, and entry fees. The tracks, some owned by International Speedway Corporation, a sister company of NASCAR also owned by the France family, made money off TV rights (until 2001), race sponsorship, and ticketing. The teams made their money from the race’s purses, merchandise, and sponsorship.
However, this business model did not work well in the mid-2010s, which led to a major change for NASCAR. In 2016, the sport assigned 38 Charters to teams that entered all 36 races in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
These charters gave automatic entry into points-paying races, valuable revenue sharing with NASCAR, tracks owned by ISC and third parties, and, most importantly, something to sell if a team shuts down. Think of these as an NFL franchise, like the Cowboys or Chargers.
But that’s where the comparisons between the NFL and most other U.S. sports leagues stop. For example, the NFL technically has no owner. However, its 32 team owners govern the NFL, share revenue, and work to make decisions for the league.
This structure differs from NASCAR, as NASCAR is for profit and owned by a single entity. The Charters are not permanent, and the teams have very little say in how the sport operates, markets itself, or makes rules.
The NASCAR Charter Agreement decides that. This agreement, the new one specifically, is the reasoning behind 23XI and FRM’s new lawsuit. So, why and how are they trying to change NASCAR?
The lawsuit clearly explains the reasoning behind 23XI/FRM’s claim of a monopoly. Highlights include NASCAR’s ownership of multiple tracks, the ISC shutdown following a 2019 merger, NASCAR’s purchase of its only competition, ARCA, around the same time, and NASCAR’s influence over its teams.
A major claim is how the France family runs NASCAR, including the fact that almost all the money flows through the France’s before reaching the teams, drivers, and employees. The goal of this suit is inherently to make stock car racing better by removing NASCAR’s anti-competitive abilities.
23XI/FRM’s lawyer, Jeffery Kessler, said in an interview with Dave Moody on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that these alleged anti-competitive actions could hurt the sport rather than help it.
“Nobody knows if stock car racing would be better if stock car racing would be more innovative if it would be more accessible to the fans if it would be available at lower prices to the fans if there was the breath of competition allowed to come in. And what they [NASCAR] have done is stifle all that competition. So we will never know if that world what it would have looked like.” — Jeffery Kessler, on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
That interview, which can be found via Matt Weaver on X, has been controversial online for Kessler’s blunt comments. However, Kessler goes on to say that in other sports, competition benefits the sport, the athletes, and the fans. At the heart of all the accusations, alleged evidence, and harsh words is this goal of trying to benefit all parties.
While it will be up to the courts to decide if NASCAR has violated antitrust laws or has limited its teams, 23XI/FRM’s intentions, at the least, seem to be out of love for Stock Car racing and what they think it can and should be.
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