Newcastle United kit deal with JD Sports ‘will hike prices for fans’, court told

NEWCASTLE United’s exclusive football kit supply deal with JD Sports is “anti-competitive” and will mean higher prices for fans, rival retailer Sports Direct has argued at the Court of Appeal.

Sports Direct, run by former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, is seeking a temporary court order forcing the club to supply it with replica kit for the 2024/25 Premier League season.

Last month, the Competition Appeal Tribunal unanimously rejected the company’s request, concluding that it had “no reasonable or legitimate expectation” of continued supply from outgoing manufacturer Castore.

It said a suggestion that new kit maker Adidas and the club were obliged to continue provision would be “a significant fetter on competition”.

Amid plans for a full trial of the legal case at a later date, Sports Direct took its bid for an interim injunction to the Court of Appeal yesterday.

The retailer’s lawyers argued at the hearing in London that the tribunal took the wrong approach and that the club’s arrangement with competitor JD Sports is “an unlawful anti-competitive agreement”.

Newcastle’s refusal to provide Sports Direct with kit will “distort competition in the retail market and ultimately lead to consumers paying high prices”, judges were told.

Tony Singla KC, representing Sports Direct, told judges the case concerned some 50,000 items of kit.

In written arguments, he said that Newcastle’s approach was “an abuse” of the club’s “dominant position” in the market.

“Bluntly put, a Newcastle fan will not switch to buying an Arsenal jersey, even if faced with a price hike,” he said.

The barrister told the hearing there was a “complete lack of transparency” over the JD Sports deal, which was done in October 2023 but which Sports Direct only learnt about in February.

He added that “home of football” Sports Direct was “the largest sportswear retailer in the UK”, with 488 stores, that had sold Newcastle’s kit “continuously”.