Ibrox club hit with new fine over price fixing club kit with two retailers

The toxic Ibrox Tribute Act has been fined £225,000 by the Competition and Markets Authority for their role in price fixing club kit between September 2018 and July 2019.

That period relates to the switch to Hummel kit with the launch delayed by Sports Direct who reached a so far unresolved settlement earlier this year. Hummel cut short their three year contract due to recurring legal issues.

Unlike other issues the Ibrox club didn’t promise to defend their good name, in a statement in July 2022 they were very low key in acknowledging the charges against them.

This morning the CMA announced:

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has 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 3 firms 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 3 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 to 2019 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 3 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.

That announcement was made by a Government agency of King Charles, the first contact that the new monarch has had with Scottish football.

Despite the thoughts of Graeme Souness it seems that sponsors are likely to be very wary of business with Ibrox in light of the above, the Sports Direct Case and Dave King being cold shouldered by the Takeover Panel.