The line in NASCAR’s Daytona Beach sand has been drawn.
While Denny Hamlin isn’t standing on the Alamo, like William Travis did in 1836, the imagery and juxtaposition toward war is relevant.
As the news of his 23XI Racing antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR hit Wednesday (Oct. 2), Hamlin made clear they had no other option after failed charter negotiations with the France family-owned series.
While every other current charter team owner signed on the dotted line, Hamlin, in partnership with 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan, and FRM owner Bob Jenkins (a co-litigant in the case) decided to take a stand and turn their negotiation toward the courtroom.
Make no mistake, these two teams aren’t fooling around. They’ve employed attorney Jeffrey Kessler, a man who has made a career of winning legal battles against large sports organizations. He’s taken on the NFL multiple times and won; the NCAA and won; the U.S. Soccer Federation, on behalf of the women’s team, and won.
Kessler knows what he is doing.
His presence means 23XI and FRM are staking their future in the series by taking on the France family, NASCAR leadership who is not known to be congenial toward those who disagree with it. Without signatures on a new contract with the sport, this pair of teams run the risk of losing their charters for next year and, therefore, their guaranteed spot on the grid. That’s a massive risk when each currently receives a cut of the television money from the series to offset their budgets.
But if that is what they are willing to risk, then their belief in this fight has to be strong. The mountain these two ownership groups are climbing is a tough one, but not unprecedented in the professional sports landscape.
The history of lawsuits against major sports leagues has made the rounds before. During the 2011 NFL lockout, when team owners prevented players from going to work after failing to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, the players union dissolved. They then sued the league for violation of antitrust laws.
Not to let their big brother overshadow them, the NBA players did likewise later that year, dissolving their union and sued the league. This was after a last-ditch effort to sign a new CBA failed and games were lost.
While both lawsuits, which Kessler was involved in, had various differences unique to their leagues, there was one common thread: the battle of shared revenue between players and…
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