JD Sports, Elite Sports and Glasgow’s Rangers Football Club have been found guilty of fixing prices on replica clothing products at the expense of fans, the U.K. competition watchdog said in a provisional finding. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has been investigating since December 2020, said Elite and JD Sports fixed the retail prices on Rangers-branded replica kits and other clothing from September 2018 until at least July 2019. Rangers also took part in the alleged collusion by fixing the retail price of adult home replica shirts. Elite was the manufacturer of Rangers-branded clothing and also sold the products directly online and in physical stores. The only UK-wide retailer selling those products at the time was JD Sports. The watchdog said that both Elite and JD Sports applied for leniency during the CMA’s investigation and confessed to cartel activity.
At the start of the 2018-19 season, Rangers became concerned that JD Sports was selling replica tops at a lower price than Elite, the club’s retail partner at the time. All three agreed that JD Sports would raise its price for the Rangers adult short-sleeved home replica shirt by nearly 10 percent to £60 (€70). The CMA is also concerned that Elite and JD Sports – without involvement from Rangers – colluded to fix the retail prices of Rangers-branded clothing over a longer period. JD Sports said it would review the CMA’s findings and make a £2 million (€2.35m) provision in its results for the year to Jan. 29.
