The Mississippi school district that produced Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre is suing athletic equipment giants Riddell and Varsity Brands for their alleged roles in a 13-year bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracy that has drawn an FBI investigation and resulted in multiple criminal convictions.
Last week, Hancock County School District filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, accusing Riddell and Varsity Brands—two market leaders in the multibillion-dollar sports equipment industry—of being part of a scheme that ran from at least July 2010 to October 2023, in violation of federal antitrust laws. The suit seeks to represent a class of schools that purchased athletic equipment in Mississippi and Louisiana at what is purported to be fraudulently inflated prices. Citing the doctrine of “fraudulent concealment,” the district argues that any applicable statutes of limitations should be tolled.
According to the complaint, Riddell and Varsity Brands, primarily through its subsidiary BSN Sports, conspired with other individuals and companies to circumvent Mississippi procurement laws requiring school districts to solicit bids from at least two separate companies for purchases between $5,000 and $75,000. The conspiracy, the district contends, allowed the defendants to manipulate the bidding process and thereby “illegally (gain) millions of dollars through their anticompetitive conduct.”
The complaint casts the alleged scheme as coming at the expense of children, arguing that public school districts depend on affordable safe sports equipment to sustain athletic programs that are a “foundational component of the U.S. education system.”
Other named defendants in the suit include Hibbett Inc., the Alabama-based athletic fashion retailer; its former subsidiary Hibbett Team Sales; and Rex Team Sports, a Mississippi-based sporting goods and athletic equipment supplier that operates under the name Sports Center. Hibbett Team Sales ceased operations in 2017, when BSN Sports acquired some of its assets and personnel for an undisclosed amount. Hibbett Inc., meanwhile, was acquired by JD Sports Fashion for $1.1 billion in 2024.
Representatives for the companies did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The civil suit arrives amid an ongoing federal criminal investigation into the alleged scheme that has produced numerous indictments and at least seven guilty pleas. The first domino fell in May 2024, when Charles Ferrell Trimm, a former sales representative for Riddell (identified in court documents as “Company 5”), pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges stemming from his part of the scheme that prosecutors say affected nearly $2.4 million worth of sports equipment sold to Mississippi public schools from 2020 to 2023.
In March 2025, Doug Heflin, a former BSN Sports employee who worked for other alleged co-conspirators, pleaded guilty to participating in conduct affecting at least $855,910 in sales through BSN Sports for at least 146 procurements involving at least 31 schools. Heflin’s former employer is identified as “Company 2” in charging documents. However, his LinkedIn profile lists his employment at BSN Sports from 2011 to 2021, broadly aligning with the timeline outlined by prosecutors.
As part of the scheme, prosecutors allege, Heflin conspired with other companies and individuals to predetermine who would win certain business, at times submitting intentionally inflated bids to schools. At other times, he accepted business on behalf of BSN Sports where other alleged co-conspirators had similarly submitted complementary bids.
Along the way, Heflin received commissions on the resulting sales. Beyond the K-12 education market, Heflin also managed BSN Sports’ apparel distribution business with university athletic departments in the state. In 2018, Mississippi Christian University publicly praised Heflin as “such a hard-working rep” in announcing the school’s five-year agreement to source Nike gear through BSN Sports.
Last year, the state of Mississippi awarded a cooperative purchase contract to BSN Sports, which goes through 2028.
Although Trimm’s role with Riddell had been reported in local Mississippi media outlets, Hancock School District’s lawsuit marks the first public allegation directly tying it or Varsity Brands to the purported scheme. To date, no criminal charges have been brought against either company, both of which are identified as unnamed co-conspirators in criminal pleadings.
In recent years, Varsity has weathered a storm of antitrust litigation related to its cheerleading division, Varsity Spirit, settling two of those cases for tens of millions of dollars. Riddell, likewise, has faced a number of high-profile lawsuits, primarily involving allegations that its football helmets failed to adequately protect athletes from head injuries.
Riddell and Varsity Brands also share a long, complicated corporate history that has drawn renewed scrutiny. As Sportico previously reported, that history resurfaced last year following comments made by Ghislaine Maxwell, the incarcerated associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was a key investor in the late 1980s and 1990s in the company then known as Riddell. Following a series of acquisitions, that business evolved into what became Varsity Brands, while the football helmet manufacturing component continued under the Riddell name. Lincoln Management acquired the latter in June 2001 and sold it two years later to Fenway Partners, which continues to serve as Riddell’s majority owner.
In 2024, BC Partners Credit, the investment firm now seeking to salvage LIV Golf from bankruptcy, became a strategic partner in Riddell through a $400 million investment. Varsity Brands is owned by private equity firm KKR, which acquired it from Bain Capital in 2024.
While Hancock County School District pursues civil action, the Justice Department’s probe into athletic equipment sales remains ongoing. Earlier this year, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Mississippi indicted three executives at Mississippi- and Georgia-based sporting-goods companies for their alleged roles in the broader scheme.
A Hancock County School District spokesperson and attorney declined to comment. The district, according to its complaint, currently serves about 4,000 K-12 students. From 1983 to 1987, Brett Favre played quarterback for Hancock High School, then known as Hancock North Central High School.