JD Sports escapes competition watchdog fine over Leicester City kit probe
Bury-based sports and athleisure retailer JD Sports has escaped a costly fine following a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe into the sale of Leicester City FC kit.
However, the East Midlands side has been fined £880,000 after admitting it restricted online sales of replica kits with JD Sports.
The CMA says both the Foxes and JD have admitted to breaking competition law over three seasons.
The arrangement between Leicester City and JD has been outlined by the CMA.
In August 2018 JD Sports said it would stop selling Leicester City-branded clothing online for the 2018/19 season. In January 2019, JD Sports promised that it would not undercut Leicester City in terms of online sales for the 2019/20 season by applying a delivery charge to all orders of Leicester City-branded clothing – disapplying its company-wide promotional offer of free online delivery for all orders over £70.
And in July 2020, JD Sports said it would continue to apply delivery charges to online orders of Leicester City-branded clothing for the 2020/21 season as well. This continued until at least January 26, 2021.
Michael Grenfell, executive director of Enforcement at the CMA, said: “Strong and unimpeded competition between retailers is essential to consumers’ ability to shop around for the best deals.
“Football fans are well known for their loyalty towards their teams. In this case we have provisionally found that Leicester City FC and JD Sports colluded to share out markets and fix prices – with the result that fans may have ended up paying more than they would otherwise have done.
“Both parties have now admitted their involvement, allowing us to bring the investigation to a swift conclusion.
“The fine that Leicester City FC and its parent companies have agreed to pay sends a clear message to them and other businesses that anti-competitive collusion will not be tolerated.”
In response to the CMA statement, JD Sports said it brought the conduct to the CMA’s attention in January 2021 and has co-operated fully with the CMA throughout this investigation.
It added that, by bringing the matter to the CMA’s attention, JD was able to approach the CMA for leniency in accordance with the CMA’s leniency policy.
JD and the CMA subsequently signed a leniency agreement on June 30, 2023, under which the CMA has granted JD full immunity from any fines. In accordance with the CMA’s leniency guidance. JD will continue to maintain complete and continuous cooperation with the CMA until the conclusion of its investigation.
It also emphasised that no current, or former directors or senior management of JD, were involved in the offending conduct, which took place in 2018-2021.
A statement to the stock exchange said: “JD has taken a number of steps to strengthen its competition compliance programme and the board reaffirms its commitment to making the necessary resource available, internal and external, to ensure that this is embedded into its daily operations.”
In September last year, JD Sports accepted a fine of almost £1.5m by the CMA over allegations it was involved in price-fixing relating to replica kits of Glasgow Rangers FC.
The CMA imposed a fine of more than £2m on JD Sports, Elite Sports, and Rangers FC. This includes a fine of £1.485m on JD Sports, which it accepted and said it would not appeal.
