The NASCAR lawsuit is taking a major twist once again. Just a few days ago, a federal judge ruled that twelve teams will have to disclose their financial records to the league on a limited scope. All this is a part of the ongoing antitrust lawsuit after 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports refused to sign the charter agreement last year. Now, it looks like a U.S District Court judge has denied a motion that would force the NFL, NBA, and NHL to comply with a subpoena as well.

Gaining access to financial information is key for the plaintiffs to prove that NASCAR is a ‘monopoly.’ But that is easier said than done, as 23XI and Front Row Motorsports will need to draw comparisons with other sports leagues to prove this in court. And now, they have gotten another major blow after the motion was denied.

The plaintiffs face yet another blow in the NASCAR lawsuit

Jeffrey Kessler is leaving no stone unturned. Just a few months ago, the reputed antitrust attorney asked courts in New York and Colorado to order Liberty Media Corporation, owner of Formula 1, as well as the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball, to share financial documents showing how the league shares revenue with its teams. Both 23XI and Front Row Motorsports specifically want access to information related to how the revenue is split to prove NASCAR’s monopolistic practices.

But now, it looks like gaining access to that kind of data will be virtually impossible. In a tweet shared by FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, the journalist wrote, “U.S. District Court judge in NY denies motion by 23XI/FRM to force NFL, NBA & NHL to comply with subpoena for financial info. Reasoning: It’s confidential commercial info & disclosure would be harmful. Info not relevant to case. Much of league financial info already is public.”

That’s a big blow to 23XI and Front Row Motorsports. One of the objectives of getting access to other sports’ financial documents was to prove that NASCAR was exploiting its monopolistic power to “impose anticompetitive terms on the teams” in the Cup Series. This included providing teams with a lower share of revenue than they would ideally receive in a competitive market. With the sport signing a $7.7 billion media rights agreement, both teams felt they deserved a larger share of the pie than what was offered in the latest charter agreement.

And the only way to prove that in court was to compare NASCAR’s practices to other leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and the NHL. Being forced to disclose financial documents was never going to go down easily with other sporting institutions, with them issuing a joint statement that read, “The Subpoena is based on the flimsiest of premises.” And if the verdict by a district court is anything to go by, it looks like the court agrees with them as well. Looks like things are just going from bad to worse for 23XI Racing and Front Row, after both teams recently lost their charters as well.

NASCAR’s request doesn’t go down well with teams

It looks like 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports aren’t the only ones who want access to financial data. Twelve teams appeared in federal court recently to argue against being required to disclose their financial records to the sanctioning body as part of the ongoing NASCAR lawsuit. Many of them felt that any kind of leak of such data could have “catastrophic” consequences, as it would include salaries for drivers and other team personnel, R&D expenses, as well as earnings from corporate sponsorships and manufacturers.

Adam Ross, an attorney representing the 12 teams, bluntly said that the request by NASCAR was nothing less than a “fishing expedition.” He said, “It would be absolutely devastating to these race teams if their competitors were able to find out sponsorships on the cars, driver salaries, and all revenue streams. It cannot make its way into the public realm.”

In response, the sanctioning body assured that a third-party accounting firm would review the information, with teams being listed anonymously and sponsor names being redacted. While U.S. District Court judge Kenneth D. Bell agreed with the teams, they will still have to disclose some of their records, including “annual top-line financial data (total revenue, total costs, and net profits/losses) on an anonymized, average per-car basis for each year dating back to 2014.” Looks like neither NASCAR nor the plaintiffs are going to go down without a fight, and others are bracing themselves to not be caught in the crossfire.