The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed fines totalling over £2m on Elite Sports, JD Sports and Rangers FC after they admitted to fixing the prices of certain items of the football club's merchandise.
The regulator found that Elite Sports and JD Sports broke competition law by fixing the retail prices of a number of Rangers-branded replica kits and other clothing products from September 2018 until July 2019.
Rangers FC also took part in the collusion, but only to the extent of fixing the retail price of adult home short-sleeved replica shirts from September 2018 to mid-November 2018. All three colluded to stop JD Sports undercutting the retail price of the shirt on Elite’s Gers Online store.
Elite Sports has been fined £459,000, JD Sports £1,485,000 and Rangers £225,000.
The penalties include a settlement discount, reflecting resource savings to the CMA as a result of all three parties admitting to acting illegally and helping bring a swifter resolution to the CMA’s investigation. Elite Sports’ and JD Sports’ penalties also include a discount for coming forward with information about their participation in the illegal conduct and cooperating with the investigation under the CMA’s Leniency Programme.
Michael Grenfell, executive director of enforcement at the CMA, said: “At a time when many people are worried about the rising cost of living, it is important that football fans are able to benefit from competitively priced merchandise.
“Instead, Elite, JD Sports and, to some extent, Rangers, worked together to keep prices high.
“Today's decision sends a clear message to football clubs and other businesses that illegal anti-competitive collusion will not be tolerated.”
During the time of the infringement, Elite was the manufacturer of Rangers-branded clothing and also sold Rangers-branded products directly through its Gers Online store and later in bricks-and-mortar shops in Glasgow and Belfast. The only UK-wide major retailer selling those products at the time was JD Sports.
The CMA’s investigation found that Rangers FC became concerned about the fact that, at the start of the 2018-19 football season, JD Sports was selling the Rangers replica top at a lower price than Elite, which was seen at the time as the club’s ‘retail partner’.
This resulted in an understanding between the three parties that JD Sports would increase its retail price of the Rangers adult short-sleeved home replica shirt by nearly 10%, from £55 to £60, to bring it in line with the prices being charged by Elite on Gers Online.
The CMA also found that Elite and JD Sports - without involvement from Rangers - colluded to fix the retail prices of Rangers-branded clothing, including training wear and replica kit, over a longer period.
This included aligning the level and timing of discounts towards the end of the football season in 2019, to avoid competition between them and protect their profit margins.
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