JD Sports broke competition law with Leicester City FC, CMA finds

The CMA has found that JD Sports, together with Leicester City FC, broke competition law by “colluding” to restrict competition in the sales of Leicester City-branded clothing in the UK. After an investigation which began in September 2021, Leicester City agreed to pay a fine under the CMA’s settlement policy of a maximum £880k, after admitting it had broken competition law over three football seasons. The CMA said JD Sports reported the illegal conduct and “admitted its participation in the alleged conduct by way of a leniency application”. The retailer will not receive a fine however, provided that it continues to co-operate and comply with other conditions of the CMA’s leniency policy. It comes as Leicester City FC and JD Sports made an arrangement in August 2018 that JD would stop selling Leicester City-branded clothing online for the 2018/19 season. Then, in January 2019, JD agreed 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. By 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, and this continued until at least 26 January 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.” He added: “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.” JD noted that 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: "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 30 June 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. "No current or former directors or senior management of JD were involved in the offending conduct, which took place in 2018-2021. 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."