Senator Elizabeth Warren isn’t thrilled about Dick’s Sporting Goods trying to snap up Foot Locker for $2.4 billion — and she wants federal regulators to think twice before letting the deal go through.
In a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice on Tuesday night, Warren called on the agencies to “closely scrutinize” the proposed merger and block it if they find it crosses antitrust lines.
“This deal could hurt consumers, kill jobs, and squeeze out competition,” the Massachusetts senator warned.
She pointed to rising back-to-school costs, noting a recent Credit Karma survey that found more than half of parents are already cutting back on groceries just to afford school supplies.
Her main concern? That a Dick’s–Foot Locker combo could dominate the athletic footwear market, locking in a duopoly with UK-based JD Sports — which has been on a US shopping spree, buying up chains like Finish Line, DTLR, and Hibbett. The two giants combined would control about 5,000 athletic shoe stores across the US, leaving smaller retailers gasping for air.
Warren also flagged the potential for power plays with shoe suppliers. Right now, Dick’s and Foot Locker compete for deals. Merging the two, she argues, could give the new mega-retailer too much leverage, allowing them to pressure manufacturers and possibly block smaller rivals from getting access to inventory.
“Independent retailers could get shut out or pushed around,” Warren wrote. “This could seriously mess with competition.”
Her push adds pressure to the FTC under President Donald Trump, whose approach to mergers has been less aggressive than Biden’s FTC. While Biden’s team blocked several big-ticket deals — including the Kroger-Albertsons merger — Trump’s administration already greenlit one of Biden’s blocked deals: Nippon Steel’s acquisition of US Steel.
Still, it’s not yet clear how the Trump-era FTC or DOJ will treat high-profile retail deals like this one.
Some experts think Warren’s concerns might not hold much weight. Amanda Lewis, a former FTC attorney now in private practice, told CNBC the deal is unlikely to raise red flags since the combined companies would only represent about 15% of the US sporting goods market — well below the typical 30% threshold that makes antitrust alarms go off.
At most, Lewis says, regulators might ask Dick’s to sell off some local stores to preserve competition in certain markets — but she added that even that’s more likely under Biden’s FTC than Trump’s.
As of now, the FTC is staying mum, and the DOJ hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
Whether Warren’s intervention moves the needle remains to be seen. But one thing’s clear: as big retail gets bigger, the spotlight on deals like this one is only getting brighter.
The original story by Gabrielle Fonrouge for CNBC.
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