A potential snag in the proposed Dick’s Sporting Goods and acquisition deal could be in the works as U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is asking the Federal Trade Commission to block the merger.

Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a new letter to the FTC and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division that the deal could potentially lead to higher prices for consumers and urged regulators to block the deal if they find it violates antitrust laws.

“The combination of Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker would decrease competition in the retail athletic footwear markets, cut jobs, raise prices, and leave Americans to foot the bill,” Warren wrote. “This is particularly concerning given that more than half of parents ‘plan to sacrifice necessities, such as groceries,’ because of rising prices for back-to-school shopping, including sneakers.”

FN has reached out to Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker for comment.

In May 2025, Dick’s Sporting Goods announced its intention to acquire Foot Locker for $2.4 billion, which would combine the U.S.’s largest sporting goods retailer with one of the largest athletic shoe retailers in the country. The new giant would allow Dick’s to control more than 15 percent of the U.S. sporting goods market and could create a duopoly with the current largest athletic footwear retailer, JD Sports.

“The size of the deal and each company’s significant presence in the athletic footwear market suggests this deal merits significant scrutiny from antitrust agencies…If competitors Dick’s and Foot Locker combined, the resulting elimination of competition could lead to higher prices for consumers and other negative effects… Higher prices on athletic footwear could lead to further economic hardship for parents,” added Warren.

The Senator also noted that the deal “poses a threat to workers” citing that Foot Locker said it would close some of its stores as a result of the acquisition. “The resulting job losses could put additional strain on local communities, which are already facing historic rates of retail store closures,” Warren said.

She also argued in the letter that the proposed deal could also “hurt small businesses” since the new company “would have significantly increased power to extract favorable conditions with manufacturers, putting independent retailers at a disadvantage and giving Dick’s and Foot Locker an incentive to engage in anticompetitive conduct to restrict suppliers from dealing with independent retailers.”

This megadeal also comes as consumers face increased athletic shoe costs from President Trump’s chaotic tariff policy. As a result of the administration’s erratic trade policy — and the uncertainty it has created — economists project that shoe prices are slated to rise by 44 percent, Warren added.

“This deal could raise prices for families already facing higher sneaker costs from President Trump’s tariffs and threaten workers and small businesses,” Warren noted. “The FTC and DOJ should carefully scrutinize this merger and block it if it illegally harms competition in violation of federal law.”