‘Past and present’: Traditional powers Ohio State and Notre Dame have evolved
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
ATLANTA — “Think traditionally, but without traditional thinking.”
Those were the words of Ross Bjork, the still-new Ohio State athletic director during the Saturday morning media day ahead of Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game. The question was about the balanced approach taken by his football program, and also by the opponent, Notre Dame. The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish inarguably rank among the most tradition-rich teams in the 155-year history of college football. Yet, here they are, after a combined 271 seasons, the second- and fourth-winningest programs of all time, having steered their way to the final game of this season by embracing modernized approaches to the sport while honoring the history that is as much a part of their DNA as helmets and shoulder pads.
Maintaining the shine on those silver and gold helmets by piling up silver and gold in the form of NIL money.
“We want to work at these places because of what they are and what they have been and the success they’ve enjoyed,” Bjork said. “But we have also been charged with ensuring that’s what they continue to be.”
Bjork said that just as the Buckeyes were ending their media day session and the players who earned a spot in the title game, the ones who cost $20 million to assemble, according to Bjork, filed in around him and headed for the team bus. His mantra about respecting the past while moving toward the future was uttered as 45-year-old head coach Ryan Day was holding court at a podium just over his boss’s shoulder. Day’s big-game failures lit the spark needed to raise those millions to sign those players who are now in Atlanta needing only one more win to earn Ohio State’s first national title in a decade.
When the Buckeyes exited the room, their seats were filled by their counterparts at Notre Dame, whose roster includes 10 additions via transfer, once a taboo subject in South Bend, Indiana. The players opted to play in northern Indiana partly due to the just-established coffers of name, image and likeness money. Those new arrivals included the quarterback from Duke who led the Irish downfield late against Penn State in the CFP semifinals, setting up the transfer kicker from South Carolina who kicked the game-winning field goal. Now, Notre Dame football is on the cusp of its first national title since 1988, when cell phones were still carried in shoulder bags. As the Irish players took their places, coach Marcus Freeman, the human energy shot, immediately and unknowingly parroted Bjork.
“Our everyday walk is spent with one foot firmly planted in our past, but that other foot is always stepping in our future.”
Is that easy, Coach?
“No. But it’s also not a burden. It’s a privilege. Once you understand that, it’s worth it. And what makes it worth it is … well …”
With a smile, the 39-year-old coach — a former All-Big Ten Ohio State defender — swept his hand broadly, toward Mercedes-Benz Stadium across the street, toward the gold-wearing Notre Dame faithful in the nearby Playoff Fan Central craning their necks to see their Irish, and toward the cylindrical gold CFP championship trophy, sitting atop a podium in Freeman’s sightline.
“You win football games by being smart and working hard, that’s no secret,” Freeman’s quarterback, Riley Leonard, said. “But you also have to evolve. I think that in college football now, as much as it keeps changing, programs and universities have to change with it. Your choice is to either do that or get left behind.”
But evolution is also a choice. The dinosaurs didn’t have to walk into the tar pits. And college football programs — even old-timers such as Ohio State and Notre Dame — don’t have to walk into the quicksand of mediocrity, led there by the blinders of obligation to keep on keeping on the same way that Knute Rockne and Woody Hayes did.
“The greatest challenge isn’t changing the minds of the people inside the football building. They are living it. They are going to do whatever it takes,” former Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, now a college football analyst for Fox, said in December as his alma mater began its CFP run. “It’s making the people who support the program understand what needs to be done. Making them understand that the way it always worked, the way their favorite teams were built, is not how it works now. And then explaining that their support that might have always just been rooting for the team, even buying season tickets, that support needs to be backed monetarily. That makes some people uncomfortable, but it is also the reality. And it pays off. Literally.”
Freeman’s predecessor at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly, has come under fire from those who love the Irish, and some of that is warranted. But criticism that he didn’t understand the modern business model like Freeman does isn’t entirely accurate. That model has changed dramatically since Kelly’s sudden departure for LSU three years ago. Even while he still had the job, finishing his 12 seasons only 13 wins shy of Rockne’s record 105, Kelly openly described the daily tug-of-war between pulling Notre Dame into the current times while also wrestling with the longtime program backers who resisted change, aka “the Gold Seats.”
For example, replacing the analog clock and scoreboards that had long sat atop the end zone edges of Notre Dame Stadium became a battle as Kelly hoped to add videoboards. After a years-long debate, the compromise was to add the TV screens, but keep them to a modest size, similar to the old scoreboards, and immediately prior to and after games, the displays on those screens were to be changed to digital images of the old clock and scoreboard.
“Those are the challenges that you face at a university like Notre Dame that I don’t believe you do anywhere else, and I certainly coached at a lot of other places,” said Lou Holtz, chuckling when discussing his 11 years in South Bend, winning that 1988 national championship and finishing right behind Rockne with 100 victories. “There is no question that it took cooperation from the administration, after some hard conversations about where we wanted Notre Dame football to be in the future, for me to get a player like Tony Rice [QB on the ’88 team] into school. I went to [then-president] Father Joyce and appealed to him directly. But I was told he would be admitted only if he proved himself academically for a year, to go nowhere near a football game. And guess what? Tony Rice has his degree from Notre Dame and to this day, is one the most beloved players in the history of the program. We found his place, and we did it within the framework of what one might call the Notre Dame Way.”
It was with that same mentality that Freeman went about selling the idea of bringing in transfers — a practice rarely entertained by a school understandably proud of its academic reputation — as something that could still fit into the parameters of the Notre Dame Way. The 2024 roster additions were carefully selected. They were established stars but also largely graduate transfers already with college degrees. Two players were required to wait until summer to enroll after their degrees were completed, and in the meantime, were relegated to spring practice observers.
Leonard is an undergrad, but no one questions Duke’s academic credentials. He is also a Notre Dame legacy, the great-grandson of James Curran, a 1940 Irish graduate who played football under head coach Elmer Layden, one of the fabled Four Horsemen.
“The transfer portal has really helped us because it’s allowed us to address specific needs, but it’s also helped us distinguish ourselves as a program in the sense that our kids are still picking Notre Dame for a host of reasons, not just NIL,” said Jack Swarbrick, who served as Notre Dame’s AD from 2008 to 2024 and made the decision to promote Freeman after Kelly’s departure. “No one would come to Notre Dame just for NIL. It’s too hard. If all you worried about is the compensation, you’ll go get it somewhere else. … So, for all the schools that are just recruiting with an emphasis on compensation, we’re now even more distinct than we used to be, and I think that’s helped.
“We have to be very careful in the transfer portal. It’s why nine out of 10 are grad students. It’s just really hard to get undergraduate transfers into Notre Dame.”
As Freeman bolstered his roster in the most gold-helmeted fashion, many who had worn those helmets paved the NIL road. That effort was anchored by a collective kick-started by Quinn, with a stated mission of proving to those Gold Seats who feared the future that their shared alma mater could keep up with the times and still do it on their terms. Friends of the University of Notre Dame — FUND — paid athletes for charity work. Now that the NIL structure has changed again, FUND has been closed, handing over the reins to for-profit collective Rally, designed to better handle the next imminent sea change — revenue sharing.
“It is very important to all of us to do everything we can to honor the hard work and investment that so many people are putting in us, especially the former players,” said sophomore defensive back Christian Grey, who hauled in an interception that set up that final CFP semifinal-winning drive for Leonard & Co. “To me, that’s also learning the history of Notre Dame football. My high school English teacher [in St. Louis] was a Notre Dame grad and he taught me that as soon as I committed. He gave me a Four Horseman poster and it’s been on my wall ever since. It reminds me of what we are playing for. Past and present.”
Meanwhile, it was Ryan Day who spurred the NIL and roster revolution in Columbus. Bjork took over as Ohio State AD one year ago, mere days after Buckeyes archenemy Michigan had won its first national championship in 26 years — this after beating OSU for the third straight season. Bjork hadn’t even unpacked his office when Day approached him with a detailed plan on how to catch up to Michigan. Together, they drummed up financial support, having to point only to the Wolverines’ title run as the reason to start cutting checks. Among those listening were former players.
“We had started a collective, the Foundation, in 2023 because we saw what was happening at places like Texas, Alabama, Michigan, you name it, and we knew our school was falling behind,” said Cardale Jones, quarterback on Ohio State’s 2014 team that won the inaugural CFP title. “Sadly, we didn’t get a lot of support from the school itself. But once that commitment started coming from the inside, you see what happened.”
What happened was that $20 million shopping spree that led to a stunning influx and retention of talent, the most impressive offseason this side of the Philadelphia Eagles. And just when it appeared that de facto Avengers assemblage might not pay off — see: two regular-season losses, including a fourth straight to Michigan — the team that entered the newly expanded 12-team CFP as an at-large invitee has been a Buckeye Buzzsaw. A return on investment.
So is there a long-term place in a universe of perpetual college football change for stuff like gold helmets and Buckeye helmet stickers? The House that Knute Rockne Built and the Horseshoe? “Wake Up the Echoes” and the script Ohio? Stories of Paul Hornung and Hopalong Cassady, or George Gipp and Archie Griffin? Is this fast-forward sport of checks and cascading spreadsheets a place where lighting candles in the Grotto and chanting “O-H! I-O!” is anything other than outdated?
Day and Freeman not only believe all of that can coexist within the framework of the modern college football world, but the two head coaches who will shake hands at midfield Monday night — one a champion — believe that all of the above is the key to survival. The grounding rod. The only way to properly digest — or enjoy — what this world has become.
It’s why Freeman reinstated the lost tradition of Notre Dame football players attending Mass as part of their pregame routine; he has converted to Catholicism. It’s why Day got misty-eyed Saturday morning when asked about Ohio State’s Friday night golf course dinners, with the homemade pecan rolls that became a staple of the Woody Hayes experience, and leading his team into pregame Skull Session pep rallies.
“We are in this to win games and championships, but also to do right by our players and by those who have spent their lives dedicated to the idea of Notre Dame football,” Freeman said. “You lose sight of any part of that, and you’ve lost sight of what this all means.”
Added Day: “As long as they have been playing college football, the greatest programs have stayed great by adapting to the times they are in. You evolve your defense. You evolve your offense. So you also have to evolve how you run your program. But you can’t run away from who you are. You cannot let that happen. Ever. That’s when you lose a lot more than some football games.”
With Week 1 in the books, the college football season shifts into full gear as contenders begin to separate from pretenders. September is often when momentum is built, hype meets reality, and early missteps can linger all season. From blue-blood clashes such as Michigan–Oklahoma to rivalry battles in Ames, Iowa, and Columbia, Missouri, Week 2 brings both tradition and intrigue. Quarterbacks are already defining the season’s storylines, and new coordinators and transfers continue to shape the national conversation.
Our college football experts give insight on key matchups, quarterbacks and the top quotes going into Week 2. — Kyle Bonagura
Jump to:
Michigan-Oklahoma
Quarterbacks to watch | Rivalry matchups
Quotes of the week
What does each quarterback need to do to win?
Bryce Underwood: Underwood had a scintillating debut in Michigan’s victory over New Mexico. The true freshman completed 21 of 31 passes for 251 yards — more passing yards than any Michigan quarterback had in any game last season. It’s already clear that Underwood’s arm talent alone will elevate the Wolverines’ passing attack. But what was most impressive was his poise — he didn’t look like a freshman playing in his first game. That poise will be put to the test at Oklahoma. The Sooners have been tough defensively under Brent Venables, especially at home. But if Underwood can remain poised, make a few plays with his feet and continue delivering accurate throws in his first road start, the Wolverines will have a chance to pull off the upset — and send a message that with Underwood, they’re ready to contend again for a playoff spot. — Jake Trotter
John Mateer: Mateer and new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle brought their Washington State offense to Norman, and it’s no surprise they’re already executing it at a high level. Mateer had a career-high 30 completions for 392 yards in his Sooners debut against FCS Illinois State. His accuracy (81%) and efficiency (9.95 yards per dropback) were on point, and he flashed his rushing ability on a 7-yard touchdown. The Sooners were able to score on only five of 10 drives in a 35-3 win, and they’ll need more from their run game after their backs combined for 67 rushing yards on 24 carries with touted Cal transfer Jaydn Ott playing only three snaps. Michigan’s defense has more talent than any Mateer has faced over 13 career starts, but he and Arbuckle will have plenty of tricks up their sleeve. — Max Olson
Five quarterbacks to watch in Week 2
Duke‘s Darian Mensah: In the opener against Elon, Mensah showed off exactly why Manny Diaz was so eager to bring him in from Tulane this offseason. Mensah threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. This week, Duke hosts Illinois, and that will be a far bigger test for the Blue Devils. Illinois’ run defense is exceptional, so a lot will be put on Mensah’s shoulders to carry the Duke attack. It’s a big ask. This will be Mensah’s third career start against a Power 4 opponent. He lost each of his previous two against Kansas State and Oklahoma in 2024.
South Florida‘s Byrum Brown: Plenty of attention will be given to the QB on the opposite sideline for USF’s showdown against Florida in Week 2, but DJ Lagway won’t be the only show in town. Brown has 21 starts under his belt, and he won’t be rattled by playing in The Swamp. He’s also coming off a decisive win over Boise State in the opener, accounting for 253 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. Brown is a dual threat with 19 career rushing touchdowns, and he’s more than capable of upstaging Lagway and leading USF to an in-state upset.
Michigan’s Bryce Underwood: Going toe-to-toe with Mateer and Oklahoma means Michigan will need to put up some points — something the Wolverines struggled to do last season. The 2024 campaign was scuttled almost entirely by bad QB play, but Underwood — a highly talented true freshman — appears to be a savior. In his debut against New Mexico last week, he completed 68% of his throws for 251 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over. It wasn’t a gaudy stat line, but it’s the first time a Michigan QB has posted those numbers in a game since Week 8 of 2023. Underwood will need to deliver even more against the Sooners, whose offense figures to be among the most explosive in the country.
Texas‘ Arch Manning: No, we’re not concerned about Manning struggling against San José State. Texas should win this one easily. But the reaction after the Longhorns’ offense was stymied against Ohio State in Week 1 was so emphatic, that it would still be good news — and a welcome relief to Horns fans — if Manning can use the opportunity against a Group of 5 opponent to reset a bit. It is still only the fourth college start for Manning, but this should be his biggest opportunity for some stat padding. In the big picture, he remains one of the most intriguing QB prospects in the country — and Week 2 is a good chance to remind fans of why that is.
Iowa‘s Mark Gronowski: This was supposed to be the year the Hawkeyes finally had a QB who could elevate the offense beyond the traditional “punting is winning” formula. When Kirk Ferentz landed Gronowski via the portal from South Dakota State, he seemed to fit the bill as both a hard-nosed pocket passer in the typical Iowa mold, but also one with sufficient upside to actually make the Hawkeyes a tad more dynamic. But in Week 1 against FCS Albany, he didn’t exactly light it up. Gronowski finished just 8-of-15 passing for 44 yards. No, he didn’t need to do more than that to secure an easy win, but the formula changes a good deal in Week 2 for the Cy-Hawk game against Iowa State. Dating to 2018, Iowa’s starting QBs have combined for a 41.3 Total QBR, 53% completions, one touchdown and four picks in six games vs. Iowa State. — David Hale
Early rivalry matchups
Iowa at Iowa State: No. 16 Iowa State and Iowa renew their rivalry Saturday in Ames in the 72nd edition of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
The Cyclones, fresh off an 11-win season and a Pop-Tarts Bowl victory, enter with momentum behind quarterback Rocco Becht, who has thrown a touchdown pass in 20 straight games and is coming off an incredible performance against FCS South Dakota, in which he completed 19 of 20 passes. Kicker Kyle Konrardy also entered the record book with the longest field goal in school history — a 63-yard boot to close the first half.
Iowa, meanwhile, cruised through its opener against FCS Albany 34-7, giving up only 177 yards of total offense. Quarterback Mark Gronowski — who started 54 games at South Dakota State before arriving in the offseason — eased into his first game for the Hawkeyes, completing 8 of 15 passes for just 44 yards.
Iowa State has won two of the past three against Iowa but has dropped its past six games in the series in Ames. — Bonagura
Kansas at Missouri: First and foremost, it’s the renewal of a bitter rivalry that has been dormant since the Tigers left the Big 12 for the SEC after the 2011 season. This matchup isn’t the “Iron Bowl” or “The Game,” but college football is better when Kansas and Missouri are playing each other. The Tigers enter with a 56-55-9 advantage in the all-time series as winners in five of the past six matchups between the schools from 2006 to 2011.
As for Saturday, the Jayhawks come to Columbia with a stout veteran defensive line unit led by defensive end Dean Miller and tackles Tommy Dunn Jr. and D.J. Withers. How well can that group limit Tigers running back Ahmad Hardy and attack Missouri’s renovated offensive line will define the 120th edition of the Border War.
It also should be an occasion for the quarterbacks. Sixth-year Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels, who threw three touchdowns in Kansas’ opener against Fresno State, has the chance to claim his latest signature victory in Week 2. Meanwhile, Penn State transfer Beau Pribula meets his first Power 4 opponent since joining the Tigers, facing an unproven Kansas secondary in his second start with Missouri after going 23-of-28 with 283 yards and four total touchdowns in his debut against Central Arkansas last week. — Eli Lederman
Quotes of the week
“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” LSU coach Brian Kelly on Dabo Swinney’s evaluation of the Tigers’ 17-10 win over Clemson. “Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”
“They outplayed us, outcoached us, and they were just better than we were tonight,” North Carolina coach Bill Belichick said after the Tar Heels’ 48-14 loss to TCU on Monday night. “That’s all there was to it. They did a lot more things right than we did.”
“It means a lot to a lot of people,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said this week on what he wants his players to understand about the significance of the Border War rivalry with Kansas. “It’s a privilege to wear the Mizzou on your chest. And when you wear Mizzou, you represent 6 million people in this state. And that’s just current. Past and present, [too]. I think we’re Team 136, there are some people that felt like there’s just a lot of importance and this is our chance to write our part of the story. We’re going to continue to play this game. So this is just one part of the story, but it’s an important part. You get a chance to be a part of it.”
“I could walk through the jersey. You could open it up, and at 6-4, 280 pounds, I could walk right through it and not touch one side of the thing,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said of the oversized jersey Yellow Jackets punt returner Eric Rivers threw on in the first quarter against Colorado in Week 1. “… You will not see that jersey ever again.”
With Oklahoma State redshirt freshman quarterback Zane Flores preparing for his first career start at No. 6 Oregon, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy recalled one of his earliest starts at Nebraska in the fall of 1986: “It was 15 degrees and sleeting … we came out of the locker room and — you know the movie ‘A Christmas Story’ where the kid goes down like this? — that’s how I came out,'” Gundy said before lifting his shirt for reporters. “And when we broke the huddle, Nebraska’s defensive line had their shirts tied up like this. And I thought, ‘This is not good.'”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two NASCAR teams, one owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, on Tuesday argued to a federal judge why the organizations still should be issued a preliminary injunction to be recognized as chartered organizations until their antitrust suit against the stock car racing series is finished.
The 11-page filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina was in response to NASCAR notifying Judge Kenneth Bell it would not redistribute any charters to new participants while the case heads toward its Dec. 1 court date. NASCAR’s backtrack Friday came one day after an acrimonious hearing that included the disclosure of expletive-laden emails and text messages from Jordan and other high-profile litigants.
23XI Racing, the team owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, are suing NASCAR over antitrust claims regarding the charter system. A charter is the equivalent of a franchise and guarantees chartered cars both a spot in the 40-car field each week, as well as a significantly larger chunk of payouts.
NASCAR last September, after more than two years of contentious negotiations, presented teams with its final offer on charter extensions; 13 organization signed the agreements, but 23XI and Front Row refused.
The two teams initially won a preliminary injunction to be recognized as chartered for this season until a jury verdict on the antitrust allegations. That was overturned, and 23XI and FRM are currently competing as “open” teams. NASCAR wants the money back the teams were paid during the portion of the season they were chartered.
The teams also have appealed to have the chartered status reinstated, but NASCAR argued in court last week it has an interested buyer for one of the six charters previously held by 23XI and FRM, and it plans to immediately begin redistributing the charters. NASCAR backtracked after Thursday’s hearing, and a ruling on the preliminary injunction is expected to come from Bell this week.
NASCAR maintains that in holding off on redistributing charters, 23XI and FRM are no longer in danger of suffering irreparable harm. The teams countered Tuesday the threat still exists “because of the risk of breach claims from their irreplaceable drivers and loss of sponsors in the absence of charter rights.”
Tyler Reddick of 23XI has a clause in his contract that says the team would be in breach if his Toyota is not chartered. Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney for the two teams, indicated in court that Reddick has notified 23XI it is in breach.
Kessler also argued that NASCAR agreeing not to redistribute any charters now “does not moot Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction or eliminate Plaintiffs’ irreparable harm if no relief is provided.”
The 13 teams that are chartered are becoming frustrated with the case — Bell warned last week the entire charter system is in danger of imploding if a settlement is not reached — and the non-suing teams believe their valuations are being harmed by the litigation.
Dan Towriss, the majority owner of the Spire Motorsports’ NASCAR team, as well as owner of Cadillac F1, Andretti Global and other motorsports properties, said he was “very disappointed with the direction” the lawsuit has taken.
“We had meetings with the NASCAR brass a few weeks ago and it’s ‘How can we help?'” Towriss said at last weekend’s IndyCar season finale. “What we saw [in court], what was released in that case is very inconsistent with what they [NASCAR] say privately. And so I need to understand, ‘Who am I dealing with? Which one is it? Is it the people we meet with privately, or is what you say when we’re not around?'”
Towriss said he’d also like to see NASCAR reach a settlement with 23XI and FRM.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge on Wednesday denied two teams — one owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan — a preliminary injunction in their antitrust suit against NASCAR to be recognized as chartered teams for the remainder of the season.
Judge Kenneth Bell of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina said there was no reason to issue 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports the injunction because NASCAR last Friday vowed not to sell the six charters the teams previously held until the end of the legal battle.
Bell has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to rule on the likelihood of one side prevailing over the other, and reiterated that Wednesday.
“As the Court noted at the hearing on this motion, the Court believes that it is best not to provide its forecast of the Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits, and thereby potentially bias the jury pool, unless it is necessary to do so, which is not here,” Bell wrote.
He also cautioned on what the landscape of NASCAR may look like if the case is not settled before trial.
“The uncertainty about what the 2026 season will look like unfortunately exists not just for the Parties, but for the other teams, drivers, crews, sponsors, broadcasters, and most regrettably, the fans,” he wrote.
NASCAR in a statement said the ruling “brings much-needed clarity to the remainder of the 2025 NASCAR season.”
“For nearly 80 years, NASCAR and the France family have championed a bold vision by taking many personal and financial risks to build a sport that fuels livelihoods, inspires generations, and delivers world-class competition,” NASCAR said. “That commitment remains unwavering, and we will continue to defend the integrity of NASCAR and preserve the values that have guided its growth.
“To the fans: We won’t let this lawsuit distract from what matters most — delivering the unforgettable moments you’ve come to expect from our great sport and crowning the next NASCAR Cup Series champion on November 2.”
The trial is set for Dec. 1.
“With trial in this matter now less than three months away and the season on its proverbial last laps, NASCAR has agreed to extend those representations, in material effect,” Bell wrote in denying the motion for a preliminary injunction.
“This will effectively maintain the status quo pending a final decision on the merits and any permanent injunctive relief following trial that is, Plaintiffs will be able to race and disputed Charters will not be sold or otherwise transferred.”
Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for the teams suing NASCAR, wasn’t necessarily disappointed by the ruling.
“We are grateful that Judge Bell has made clear that the status quo is being maintained — protecting my clients’ rights to regain their charters if they prevail at trial and ensuring their ability to continue racing through the 2025 season based on NASCAR’s commitments,” Kessler said. “Equally important, Judge Bell reaffirmed his broad power to order meaningful changes in NASCAR should we succeed, so that teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans can benefit from a sport positioned for long-term growth and restored competition.
“We are ready to present our case at trial in December.”
23XI Racing, the team owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, are suing NASCAR over antitrust claims regarding the charter system. A charter is the equivalent of a franchise and guarantees chartered cars both a spot in the 40-car field each week, as well as a significantly larger chunk of payouts.
NASCAR last September, after more than two years of contentious negotiations, presented teams with its final offer on charter extensions; 13 organization signed the agreements, but 23XI and Front Row refused.
The two teams initially won a preliminary injunction to be recognized as chartered for this season until a jury verdict on the antitrust allegations. That was overturned, and 23XI and FRM are currently competing as “open” teams. NASCAR wants the money back the teams were paid during the portion of the season they were chartered.
The teams also have appealed to have the chartered status reinstated, but NASCAR argued in court last week it has an interested buyer for one of the six charters previously held by 23XI and FRM, and it plans to immediately begin redistributing the charters. NASCAR backtracked after Thursday’s hearing.
NASCAR maintains that in holding off on redistributing charters, 23XI and FRM are no longer in danger of suffering irreparable harm. The teams countered Tuesday the threat still exists “because of the risk of breach claims from their irreplaceable drivers and loss of sponsors in the absence of charter rights.”
Tyler Reddick of 23XI has a clause in his contract that says the team would be in breach if his Toyota is not chartered. Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney for the two teams, indicated in court that Reddick has notified 23XI it is in breach.
Bell wrote in his Wednesday decision that “the loss of the ‘fixed’ Charter payouts and the uncertainty of ongoing relationships with drivers and sponsors can either be compensated with money damages at trial or is simply inherent in the risks associated with the lawsuit.”
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