23XI, Front Row lawyer Jeffrey Kessler rips 'egregiously anti-competitive' NASCAR in lawsuit comments

Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney formally retained by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports in their anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR, took aim at the sanctioning body in a Wednesday news conference for creating an “egregiously anti-competitive” system.

“There has never been a case I have found that is as egregiously anti-competitive as this one,” Kessler said, via Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. “We have a sport where one family has used its power to create an absolute monopoly for the benefit of that family, as opposed to being for the benefit of the teams, the drivers, the sponsors, the broadcasters, the fans.”

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in North Carolina, 23XI and Front Row accused NASCAR and its CEO Jim France of “unlawful monopolization of premier stock car racing in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.”

“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,” the lawsuit states. “And bullies will continue to impose their will to hurt others until their targets stand up and refuse to be victims. That moment has now arrived.”

23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports file anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR

The lawsuit stems from 23XI and Front Row opting not to sign NASCAR’s final charter proposal at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month. Teams have been negotiating an extension of the original 2016 charter agreement for the last two years ahead of its expiration on Dec. 31. Teams made demands such as making charters permanent, which NASCAR refused to include in its proposals.

The final proposal came in at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 6. NASCAR gave teams a six-hour deadline to sign, threatening to “eliminate the charter system altogether for 2025 and beyond” if they did not. 23XI and Front Row were the two holdouts among the 15 Cup Series teams.

“The take-it-or-leave-it offer from NASCAR included numerous one-sided, monopolistic economic terms that were far less than the teams would receive in a competitive market,” the lawsuit states. “It did not provide a fair split of revenues so that the teams would have a chance to earn a reasonable return on their investment. It seized control over team intellectual property rights, to be used for NASCAR’s benefit.

“Did not provide permanent charters so that the teams could realize value through permanent charter appreciation. It did not give teams the ability to resist unilateral NASCAR rules that increased team costs. And it did not give the teams any meaningful role in governance of the sport. It also imposed terms that would undermine the relationship between teams and drivers.”

Jeffrey Kessler explains why 23XI, Front Row did not sign NASCAR charter proposal

Kessler further explained why 23XI and Front Row took a stand and decided not to sign the proposal.

“In every antitrust case, the victims are taking what they can get,” Kessler said. “… A lot of the victims will continue to be victims until this wrong is righted.” 

Kessler, who has previously scored court victories which have led to the creation of NFL free agency, implementation of name, image and likeness (NIL) in collegiate athletics and equal pay for the United States women’s national soccer team, said they expect to win the case and change stock car racing in the U.S. “for the better.”

“We filed this case, and we expect to win this case,” Kessler said. “One way or another, stock car racing is going to change in this country for the better.”