Michael Jordan’s Racing Team Joins Lawsuit Against NASCAR Calling the Organization 'Monopolistic Bullies'

Michael Jordan’s racing team and one other team have filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, claiming the organization’s revenue sharing system is “unfair” and not providing teams with potential to turn a profit.

Jordan, 61, headlined the lawsuit brought forward by his 23XI Racing team and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR and its CEO Jim France, which was filed Wednesday morning in federal court, according to a copy obtained by PEOPLE.

“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,” the teams claimed in the lawsuit. “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.”

NASCAR and France, 79, have used “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices” to “enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams,” the two teams’ lawsuit alleges.

"Every major sport goes through a moment when it needs to be transformed — when the people who are being treated unfairly stand up and say it’s time for change," the teams' attorney Jeffrey Kessler said in a statement to PEOPLE. "This is NASCAR’s moment, and that change is what we want from this case."

PEOPLE has reached out to NASCAR for comment.

Since 2016, NASCAR has operated under a shared revenue system, according to CNN. With no major racing league competitor in the United States, Jordan's 23XI Racing team and the Front Row Motorsports team argue in their lawsuit that teams in general have felt pressured to go along with NASCAR’s revenue sharing model because it’s the only major league option available to them.

Jordan’s team’s lawsuit highlights a number of instances that they allege show how NASCAR’s revenue sharing system has unfairly compensated successful teams, pointing out that only eight of the 19 teams that originally signed on for NASCAR’s revenue sharing system under its 2016 charter agreement remain in business.

The lawsuit points to Furniture Row Motorsports as a primary example: the racing team sold for $6 million following the 2018 season despite winning the Cup Series championship the year prior.

“Faced with a take-it-or-leave-it offer, and no competing opportunity for premier stock car racing in the United States, most of the teams concluded that they had to sign,” the lawsuit alleges. “One team described its signing as “coerced,” and another said it was “under duress.” A third team said, NASCAR “put a gun to our head(s)” and we “had to sign.’ “

The teams' lawsuit also alleges that in 2018, NASCAR purchased its "only recognizable" competitor, the Automobile Racing Club of America, and "relegated it into a 'feeder' series that it could keep under NASCAR's thumb."

NASCAR’s current charter agreement expires at the end of December, according to the Associated Press. The outlet reports that 13 out of 15 teams agreed to NASCAR’s new charter agreement, which is set to begin after this year. 

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Teams signed on to the NASCAR charter agreement qualify for a guaranteed spot in all 36 Sprint Cup Series point races, The New York Times also reports.

Jordan announced in 2020 that he was teaming up with NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin to form the 23XI Racing team, which features Bubba Wallace as its top driver.

“Everyone knows that I have always been a fierce competitor, and that will to win is what drives me and the entire 23XI team each and every week out on the track," the retired NBA star said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. "I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans. Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”