Billionaire. Basketball legend. And now? Alleged cartel leader.
Michael Jordan’s high-speed dive into NASCAR is now part of a federal courtroom drama that accuses him and his team of forming an “illegal cartel.”
But while NASCAR takes aim, Jordan is flying high—literally—in a $70 million Gulfstream that’s not just a flex but potentially a strategic win for his embattled 23XI Racing team.

Michael Jordan’s new $70 million Gulfstream G650ER features a custom paint job, estimated to cost over $500,000, as per Joe Pompliano. However, according to the former race driver, the purchase is justified. Kenny Wallace, on his social media X and YouTube, uploaded a video to give a behind-the-scenes look at the MJ airplane. “When you run 39 races a year, you cannot get on commercial airplanes, it just doesn’t work that way.”

“Here’s the thing about an airplane: an airplane is a necessary evil. You can only own an airplane if you can afford it, and you know, like Michael Jordan, that guy you just go watch the movie, Michael Jordan is still making like $40-44 million a year just off of the tennis shoes that you kids buy.” The former NASCAR driver was at the hangar and got a close view of MJ’s G650ER. However, the former FOX NASCAR reporter’s assessment of Jordan’s earnings appears to be inaccurate.

As per the reports, the Bulls icon signed a 5% royalty deal with Nike for every sale of Air Jordan product. The never heard before deal made MJ a lot of profit. Another report regarding Nike indicated that Jordan Brand was Nike’s only division posting 6% sales growth. The overall sales figure was above the 7 billion mark, so that’s make the reported income to $350 million. Way more than the “$40-44 million” claimed by Wallace. Speaking about claims, it was NASCAR who filed one against Michael Jordan and others.

As part of the federal lawsuit filed by Jordan’s 23XI Racing and another team, Front Row Motorsports, NASCAR has filed a counterclaim against the teams. NASCAR called the teams in the suit “an illegal cartel.” However, 23XI and Front Row attorney Jeffrey Kessler denied any such claims to The Athletic. “A meritless distraction and a desperate attempt to shift attention away from its own unlawful, monopolistic actions.” Despite these claims, MJ and other teams are not backing down!

Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are doubling down in their lawsuit against NASCAR

The case was never easy from the beginning. Michael Jordan explained why he and his 23Xl Racing are against the new charter system. Front Row Motorsports is the only other team that has not signed the deal. It’s the deal that will help NASCAR rope in $7.7 billion from its new media rights deals. But then why is His Airness against this?

Currently, the distribution of sports media-rights revenue is approximately 65% to tracks, 25% to teams, and 10% to NASCAR. On the surface, it seems NASCAR doesn’t take the bigger piece of the pie; therein lies the problem. The major problem is that half of the Cup Series races will run on NASCAR-owned tracks. Thus, effectively, the payment would change from 10% to 42.5% of TV money. That is why MJ, in a statement to AP, called “The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies.”

The remaining thirteen organizations have signed the latest charter, but some reports suggest that it was done under duress or that they felt threatened into doing so. Even though there might not be much support for 23XI Racing, the Bulls icon wants to take this to court. Only time will tell which side will prevail.