Rumors

Michael Jordan has taken a major loss off the racetrack. Jordan’s 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports, are now at risk of losing their NASCAR charter status—the sport’s version of franchises—as the entities’ legal battles continue. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction, ordered in December by a U.S. District Court in North Carolina, that required NASCAR to treat 23XI and Front Row as chartered teams for the 2025 season.

Front Office Sports

Microbetting company nVenue has partnered with the WNBA to provide its predictive analytics for the 2025 season, the startup’s first deal with a women’s sports property after previous work with the NBA, NASCAR and Apple TV for its Friday night MLB games. This follows a recent multimillion-dollar funding round from strategic investors FDJ Ventures, The Collectiv, and DigitalWin. Lead investor KB Partners also added participated with a follow-on check.

Sports Business Journal

False Alarm: The NBA and NASCAR are not dipping into cryptocurrency. At around 2:45 p.m. ET Tuesday, the NBA’s Twitter account announced to its 48.1 million followers that it launched a crypto coin —$NBA Coin— under the Solana network.

Front Office Sports

The 2025 NASCAR season begins Sunday at the Daytona 500 with a big change, and one major outstanding issue, off the track. On a positive note, NASCAR is entering the first season of new seven-year, $7.7 billion media-rights deals. On the flip side, the season begins with an unsettled antitrust lawsuit from two teams, including one owned by Michael Jordan. Also in 2025, NASCAR will race in a new country and launch an in-season tournament as the sport looks to continue its push into the mainstream.

Front Office Sports

As the NASCAR world descends upon Daytona International Speedway, two teams—Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports—are beginning the season as uncharted members as their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR plays out in court.  Last year, the teams were the only two not to sign NASCAR’s new charter agreement, instead suing the sanctioning body, arguing for a larger share of annual revenue distribution. 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was one of four drivers to make it to the NASCAR Cup Series championship race last season, which was ultimately won by Joey Logano.

Front Office Sports

23XI Racing co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin started off NASCAR championship week by facing the sanctioning body in federal court. 23XI, which along with Front Row Motorsports is suing NASCAR and its CEO Jim France for antitrust violations, had its first in-person courtroom showdown with NASCAR during a Monday hearing over a preliminary injunction request.

New York Times

The NBA executive also noted that Amazon promised to promote NBA games in its broadest-reaching sports properties, including “Thursday Night Football,” while Warner Bros. Discovery “substituted an obligation to promote the NBA in any “Major Sporting League” distributed on TNT or Max, a defined term which TBS expanded to include NASCAR and certain college sporting events – making this promotional commitment less valuable to the NBA.”

Variety.com

Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan was at Sunday’s NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway. Jordan is the co-owner of 23XI Racing, which fields a pair of Toyotas in the Cup Series – No. 23 Bubba Wallace and No. 45 Tyler Reddick. Both are sponsored by McDonald’s this week.

Booth Newspapers

According to a class action settlement filed on May 3, retired NFL star Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski will pay the largest share of $1.9 million. NBA player Victor Oladipo will pay $500,000 and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill will pay $25,000. All three sports stars have agreed to the settlements without admitting to or denying any of the accusations.

Coin Telegraph

Sports TV Ratings: Most-viewed sports events of the weekend: Lakers/Nuggets gm 1, ABC: 5.652m Mavs/Clippers gm 1, ABC: 4.661m NASCAR Talladega, Fox: 4.307m 76ers/Knicks gm1, ESPN: 4.192m

Twitter

Michael Jordan’s young tenure as a NASCAR team owner is already notably more successful than his time owning an NBA team—and he’s not trying to hide his excitement about the rubber-burning passion. Tyler Reddick’s victory at Talladega on Sunday marked the first time His Airness was in attendance for a race won by one of the drivers at his majority-owned 23XI Racing, which launched in 2021. “This is, to me, like an NBA playoff game,” Jordan said in an interview with Fox Sports from Victory Lane. “I am so ecstatic.”

Front Office Sports

Add in the fact that Embiid was roundly ridiculed after his latest absence in Denver, and there’s a level of scrutiny that concerns his teammates. “(You’ve got people) pressuring him to force being great when he’s 300 pounds, seven-feet-five?” said Oubre, who exaggerated Embiid’s listed size of 7-feet and 280. “Like, c’mon bro. Yeah, he has to do what he has to do. I think this year, people will really understand that his whole career he’s been having to make sure his body’s right. This is like NASCAR, right? If their cars ain’t working, and their mechanics ain’t really able to get the job done before the race, then what can they do? They can’t race. “This is our bodies. Our body is our car and we have to treat it with respect. He’s 350 pounds, bro. So you know, I’m praying for him for a speedy recovery, so he can come in and give himself the best chance. But at the end of the day, that’s not important. His body and his career is most important.”

The Athletic

Jeff Gluck: Michael Jordan greets Bubba Wallace on pit road and congratulates members of 23XI Racing on the NASCAR playoff berth.

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"There's nothing like seeing and experiencing sports at their highest level," the 38-year-old said. "It's an honor for me to be part of this historic moment in motorsport and help celebrate the centenary of one of the biggest sporting events in the world." James is a partner in Fenway Sports Group, which co-owns the RFK Racing NASCAR team.

ESPN