The pair admitted to breaking competition law across three seasons.
In August 2018, JD Sports agreed to stop selling Leicester City-branded clothing online for the 2018/19 season and in January 2019, agreed that it would not undercut the football club online by making the club’s merchandise exempt from its free online delivery for all orders over £70 promotion.
Leicester have been handed a £880,000 fine, however, JD Sports escaped financial penalty after bringing the matter to the CMA’s attention in 2021.
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The retailer approached the CMA for leniency after making the watchdog aware of the agreement and was granted full immunity from any fines.
This is not the first time JD Sports has found itself in hot water with the CMA. It was handed a near-£1.5m fine last year when it was found to have engaged in “cartel activity” by fixing the retail price of Rangers football shirts.
Last year the sporting giant was hit with a £4.3m fine following a secret meeting with Footasylum CEO, and former JD chief executive, Barry Bown, at a time where the CMA was investigating JD’s potential acquisition of the footwear retailer.
JD said that no current of former directors, or any of its senior management team, were involved in the Leicester City price fixing.
It added: “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.”
The CMA executive director of enforcement Michael Grenfell 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”
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