Las Vegas (AP) – Long before the battle on the charter system led the antitrust trial engulfing Nascar, its leaders found Michael Jordan and his small group of advisers a beneficial resource to discuss the growth of the most American racing series.
They kept meetings with Curtis Polk, Jordan’s right -hand man, to review the best practices and other areas that could be improved.
It was then that Jordan still owned the NBA Charlotte Hornets. Now he has a NASCAR team, and 23XI Racing – with the first -row car sports – is Continue the stock of stock stocks on alleged antitrust violations.
Taken in the reticle is Polk, which has been distinguished in the counter-combination of Nascar as a brain For a quasi-amazement by racing teams on income sharing.
From the advisor to the enemy
The Nascar counter-combination deposited earlier this month called Jordan’s long-standing commercial director and associates with a “sports agent” and has repeatedly distinguished Polk as a leader against the current charter agreements signed last fall by most teams in the series of cuts. Nascar also said Polk had threatened a boycott of Daytona 500 qualification races and convinced the teams to boycott a meeting with Nascar.
The teams signed the charters just before the playoffs last season after a NASCAR offer. Although the Charter system remains imperfect – the teams want them to be made permanent as a franchise in other important sports – it guarantees a place in the field and other incidents to income. Thirteen teams signed only 23X and the first row was held – largely because of a charter clause which prohibits teams from continuing NASCAR – and as the two teams did not like the terms, they wanted the right to continue on antitrust allegations.
And now, we are here: reconvention requests, warnings according to which a court victory of 23x could bring Nascar to dissolve the entire charter system, a date of trial in December and a full attack against Polk.
“I do not think that Mr. Polk really understands sport,” said Nascar’s lawyer Christopher Yates, to the Associated Press. “I think he has entered place and his point of view is that it should be much more like the NBA or other League sports. But this is not the case. No motorsport is like that. He has done a lot of things that could work in the NBA or could be OK in the NBA but are simply not appropriate in Nascar. »»
Jordan, through a spokesperson, wanted him to know that he and Polk are in Lockstep and that all that Polk has done represents the NBA icon. Polk has a 23xi piece alongside Jordan and the triple winner of Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin.
“Curtis and MJ stand united. His point of view is that if you came after Curtis, you come after him, “said the spokesperson. “He doesn’t consider it business. It’s personal.
Hamlin also opposed the comments of Yates.
“This is like saying that a chef does not know how to cook. He has built Michael Jordan’s Empire in the past 30 years. The guy knows the business, “said Hamlin.” Curtis was fantastic for our team and certainly a pioneer, I believe, and a pioneer for new ideas that our team uses each time we arrive at the circuit race and how we do business. “”
Many team leaders from Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the weekend refused to talk about the attack on Nascar’s attack on Polk. Some say that they believe Nascar’s warning that if 23X succeeds in court, the charters will be dissolved. Others say that Nascar just wants the frightened teams to reason with 23XI, but the dissolution of the charter system is an empty threat because they existed seven years between NASCAR and 13 organizations representing 30 cars.
Nascar said on Monday that he did not want to dissolve the charter system and refer to Yates’ declaration on the reconvention request that the 23Xi “trial opens a Pandora box and calls into question if the charter system will continue”.
Richard Childress, owner of cars of the NASCAR renowned temple, defended Polk, who was chosen as a negotiator by the Alliance Team race during the Charter Extension talks.
“Curtis had done nothing that someone else had done,” said Childrade. “He did nothing that everyone on RTA has done and that’s all I would say. Curtis did nothing to anyone and it is the quote. »»
Who is Polk?
Although he started as an agent, Polk has advised Jordan since 1989 and manages the financial and commercial affairs of Jordan, the family office and related companies.
Polk was part of the Hornets ownership group, was the director of Hornets Sports & Entertainment and another governor of the Council of Governors of the NBA. Polk advised Jordan during the launch of the Jordan de Nike brand in 1997 and was an executive producer of “The Last Dance”, the award -winning docuseries telling the Bulls of Chicago and the NBA Rise de Jordan.
Polk has also managed the financial affairs of many sports stars; In 1996, Polk negotiated four of the five highest contracts in the history of the NBA at the time.
So, yes, Nascar is right in that his career is not in motorsport. It is apparently the biggest problem and a familiar problem in Nascar: a decade ago, the co-founder Rob Kauffman of Fortress Investment Group has bailiff Michael Waltrip Racing and pushed for the RTA and the initial charter system which made its debut in 2016.
Kauffman, still considered a foreigner for Nascar, is no longer an active team owner.
Like Kauffman, Nascar does not seem to consider Polk as one of the good boys “ “ “ “ “ `simply satisfied by the rush to adrenaline to bang and hit racing cars 38 weekends per year. Like Kauffman, he wants to understand why the France family series would have monopolia support.
Many team leaders have whitewashed when they asked for Polk and the role he played in charter negotiations, clearly not interested in landing in the Nascar reticle.
“Curtis is an intelligent guy. He is a really intelligent guy, ”was all that the president of Joe Gibbs Racing, Dave Alpern, member of the RTA negotiation committee, would say at AP.
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