Exclusive: CMA sends warning to Lawn Tennis Association

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has told the country’s governing body for tennis to comply with antitrust rules after complainants accused the association of breaking the law.

In an email sent last month and seen by GCR, the CMA confirmed it has formally written to the Lawn Tennis Association to remind it of its antitrust compliance obligations.

While warning letters do not suggest a business has broken the law, they put companies on notice that an urgent review of their conduct may be warranted and the agency expects a response following receipt. 

The letter comes after anonymous third-party suppliers of court booking systems and tennis league platforms complained that the LTA abused its position as the “custodian of the sport” to boost its commercial activities.

In particular, the complaint alleges that the LTA conditioned its allocation of government funding to local councils and tennis clubs for court refurbishment on the use of its own tennis court booking system. The LTA also allegedly forced clubs to use its own tennis league organisation platform.

“Funding applications and agreements explicitly stipulate the use of the LTA’s own commercial products,” the complaint says.

The complainants are yet to go public because they need to maintain a working relationship with the LTA. For that same reason, they have asked the CMA not to open a full-blown investigation or market study and instead issue a warning letter to discontinue the alleged anticompetitive practices.

In 2021, the UK government committed to invest £22 million into public tennis courts owned by local authorities, alongside £8.5 million from the LTA, with the funds to be allocated by the association. For local councils to gain access to the funding, the LTA forced them to use its court booking system Clubspark and forbade them from contracting with third-party suppliers. 

“Third-party suppliers are severely disadvantaged as they are not competing on a level playing field with another independent supplier,” the complaint alleged. “Instead, they are competing with the governing body.”

After buying Local Tennis Leagues – a third-party supplier of recreational competitive leagues that competed with several rivals – in 2020, the LTA forced venues to use the system to compete in its tournaments, the complaint alleged.

The LTA did this without a competitive tender process, instead bundling its services together and tying the use of these services to other products, services and funding awards, it claimed.

In doing so, the association has created a closed ecosystem, imposing a “top-down prescriptive model that has sought to pull everything within the LTA’s control”, the complaint said.

It also accused the association of withholding access to booking and inventory data. “Due to the LTA’s recent conduct, LTA Clubspark has become the primary holder of booking and inventory data nationally,” it said.

Charles River Associates vice president Simon Chisholm, who advises the complainants, claimed the evidence is “pretty clear cut”. 

The LTA used its power to exclude competitors, he said. There were “multiple complainants” who consistently reported being “excluded by the LTA”, Chisholm said, adding that the “CMA moved particularly fast on this once it saw the evidence”.

Similar issues are emerging with many sports governing bodies, he added. At their core, these associations are rule-making authorities and regulators, but they also tend to have commercial arms, which creates possible conflicts of interest, Chisholm said.

We’ve seen this recently across a long list of sports, including football, golf, skating and now tennis, he said. 

The LTA was contacted for comment.