Economist says NASCAR owes $364.7M to teams in antitrust case

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — An economist testified in Michael Jordan's federal antitrust trial against NASCAR that the racing series owes a combined $364.7 million in damages to the two teams suing it over a revenue-sharing dispute.

Edward Snyder, a professor of economics who worked in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice and has testified in more than 30 cases, including “Deflategate” involving the NFL's New England Patriots, testified on Monday. He gave three specific reasons NASCAR is a monopoly participating in anticompetitive business practices.

Using a complex formula applied to profits, a reduction in market revenue, and lost revenue to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports from 2021-24, Snyder came up with his amount of damages owed. Snyder applied a 45% of revenue sharing he alleged Formula 1 gives to its teams in his calculations; Snyder found that NASCAR's revenue-sharing model when its charter system began in 2016 gave only 25% to the teams.

The suit is about the 2025 charter agreement, which was presented to teams on a Friday in September 2024 with a same-day deadline to sign the 112-page document. The charter offer came after more than two years of bitter negotiations between NASCAR and its teams, who have called the agreement “a take-it-or-leave-it” ultimatum that they signed with “a gun to their head.”

A charter is similar to the franchise model in other sports, but in NASCAR it guarantees 36 teams spots in the 40-car field, as well as specific revenue.

Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin for 23XI, along with Front Row Motorsports and owner Bob Jenkins, were the only two teams out of 15 to refuse the new charter agreement.

Snyder's evaluations found NASCAR was in fact violating antitrust laws in that the privately owned racing series controls all bargaining because “teams don't have anywhere else to sell their services." Snyder said NASCAR controls “the tracks, the teams and the cars.”

Snyder repeatedly cited exclusivity agreements NASCAR entered into with racetracks after the charter system began. The agreements prevent tracks that host NASCAR from holding events with rival racing series. Prior to the long-term agreements, NASCAR operated on one-year contracts with its host racetracks.

The Florida-based France family founded NASCAR in 1948 and, along with Speedway Motorsports, owns almost all the tracks on the top Cup Series schedule. Snyder's belief is that NASCAR entered into exclusivity agreements with tracks to stave off any threats of a breakaway startup series. In doing so, he said it eliminated teams' ability to race stock cars anywhere else, forced them to accept revenue-sharing agreements that are below market value, and damaged their overall evaluations.

Snyder did his calculations for both teams based on each having two charters — each purchased a third charter in late 2024 — and found 23XI is owed $215.8 million while Front Row is owed $148.9 million. Based on his calculations, Snyder determined NASCAR shorted 36 chartered teams $1.06 billion from 2021-24.

Snyder noted NASCAR had $2.2 billion in assets, an equity value of $5 billion and an investment-grade credit rating — which Snyder believes positions the France family to be able to pivot and adjust to any threats of a rival series the way the PGA did in response to the LIV Golf league. The PGA, Snyder testified, “got creative” in bringing in new revenue to pay to its golfers to prevent their defections.

Snyder also testified NASCAR had $250 million in annual earnings from 2021-24 and the France family took $400 million in distributions during that period.

NASCAR contends Snyder's estimations are wrong, that the 45% F1 model he used is not correct, and its own two experts “take serious issue” with Snyder's findings. Defense attorney Lawrence Buterman asked Snyder his opinion on NASCAR's upcoming expert witnesses and Snyder said they were two of the best economists in the world.

Snyder testified for almost the entirety of Monday's session — the sixth day of the trial — and will continue on Tuesday. The snail's pace has agitated U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, who heard arguments 30 minutes early Monday morning because he was annoyed that objections had been submitted at 2:55 a.m. and then 6:50 a.m.

He needed an hour to get through the rulings, and testimony resumed 30 minutes behind schedule. When the day concluded, he asked the nine-person jury if they were willing to serve an hour longer each day the rest of the week in an effort to avoid a third full week of trial. He all said all motions must be filed by 10 p.m. each evening moving forward.

Bell wants plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler to conclude his case by the end of Tuesday, but Kessler told him he still plans to call NASCAR chairman Jim France, NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps and Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress, who was the subject of derogatory text messages amongst NASCAR leadership and has said he's considering legal action.

NASCAR has a list of 16 potential witnesses and Bell said he wanted the first one on the stand before Tuesday's session concludes.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

FILE - Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins, left, and 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin arrive in the Western District of North Carolina on Monday Dec 1, 2025 in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer, File)

NASCAR vice chair Lesa France Kennedy enters federal court in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday Dec 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer)

NASCAR chairman Jim France enters federal court in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday Dec 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer)

Michael Jordan arrives in the Western District of North Carolina on Monday Dec 1, 2025 for the start of the antitrust trial between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Angry farmers protesting delays in the payment of subsidies swarmed onto the aircraft parking area of the international airport on the southern Greek island of Crete on Monday, managing to evade riot police who used tear gas and stun grenades to keep them back.

Images from local media showed dozens of farmers standing on a section of the tarmac at the Nikos Kazantzakis international airport in Heraklion, the main town in Crete, forcing the airport to suspend all flights.

Clashes also broke out near the airport of Crete’s second-largest city, Chania, with riot police using tear gas to disperse protesting farmers who pelted them with rocks and overturned a police patrol car, local media reported. Two people were reportedly injured in Chania.

The clashes in Crete are the latest escalation in farmer protests over delays in the payment of European Union-backed agricultural subsidies in the wake of a scandal which revealed fraudulent subsidy claims.

Farmers have deployed thousands of tractors and other agricultural vehicles at border crossings and key points along highways across the country, periodically stopping traffic and threatening to completely blockade roads, as well as ports and airports.

On Friday, riot police fired tear gas at protesting farmers attempting to block the main access road to the international airport outside the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

Police have been enforcing traffic diversions in several parts of northern and central Greece to skirt the blockades, while farmer roadblocks at the country’s northern borders with Bulgaria, Turkey and North Macedonia have already hampered truck traffic, causing long backup lines of freight vehicles.

The payment delays have come as authorities review all requests following revelations of widespread fraudulent claims for EU farm subsidies. Protesters have argued that the delays amount to collective punishment, leaving honest farmers in debt and unable to plant their fields for next season. Greece’s farming sector has also been hit this year by an outbreak of goat and sheep pox that led to a mass cull of livestock.

Michalis Chrisochoidis, the minister for public order, said last week that the government remained open to talks with protest leaders, but warned that it wouldn’t tolerate the shutdown of major transit points.

Protests by farmers are common in Greece, and similar blockades in the past have sometimes severed all road traffic between the north and south of the country for weeks.

The subsidy scandal prompted the resignation of five senior government officials in June, and the phased shutdown of a state agency that handled agricultural subsidies. Dozens of people have been arrested for allegedly filing false claims, in response to an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The independent EU body dealing with financial crime said at the end of October that the investigation was linked to “a systematic large-scale subsidy fraud scheme and money-laundering activities.”

Farmers overturn a police vehicle during clashes with officers blocking their march to Chania's airport on Crete, Greece, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, amid protests over delayed EU farm subsidies. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)

Farmers overturn a police vehicle during clashes with officers blocking their march to Chania's airport on Crete, Greece, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, amid protests over delayed EU farm subsidies. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)

Police use tear gas against farmers during clashes with officers blocking their march to Chania's airport on Crete, Greece, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, amid protests over delayed EU farm subsidies. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)

Farmers throw stones at police during clashes with officers blocking their march to Chania's airport on Crete, Greece, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, amid protests over delayed EU farm subsidies. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)

A injured police officer stands next to a police bus during clashes with officers blocking their march to Chania's airport on Crete, Greece, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, amid protests over delayed EU farm subsidies. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)

Farmers gather next to an overturned police vehicle during clashes with officers blocking their march to Chania's airport on Crete, Greece, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, amid protests over delayed EU farm subsidies. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)