JD Sports escapes fine for conspiring with Premier League club Leicester City to fix the price of football kits
Price fixing: JD Sports was found to have colluded with Leicester City to limit competition in the sale of football kits
Sportswear giant JD Sports was spared a fine after it colluded with Leicester City to restrict competition in football kit sales.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) watchdog said the pair had admitted to breaking the rules in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in Leicester being fined £880,000.
But JD Sports escaped a financial penalty for warning the CMA in 2021. The retailer agreed to stop selling the club’s kit online for the 2018/19 season, agreeing not to undercut the club online and excluding its merchandise from a promotion offering free offers. delivery.
Michael Grenfell, at the CMA, said: “We have preliminarily determined that Leicester and JD colluded to divide markets and fix prices, with the result that fans ended up paying more than they otherwise would have.
“The fine is a clear signal that anti-competitive collusion will not be tolerated.”