For $15M, Dick’s To Buy Sports Authority Brand

Dick's Buys Sports Authority Name

Over the last several months, Sports Authority has experienced a long, painful and visible death — the likes of which the retail sector would rather not see so often. For the last few weeks, Sports Authority has been going through the process of auctioning off what storefronts and inventory it could to make a little scratch back, and though it was rumored that some buyers were sniffing around the brand itself for a possible resurrection down the line, Dick’s Sporting Goods put a stop to that Thursday (June 30).

Reuters is reporting that Dick’s is in line to win the rights to the intellectual property of Sports Authority off of a $15 million bid, according to unnamed sources said to be close to the proceedings. With the deal, Sports Authority’s eCommerce operations, its loyalty program and a database containing more than 114 million shopper files will all be pass down to Dick’s, as well as the ability to relaunch the brand under the same name and revive another competitor for Dick’s.

Though sources believe the deal to be final, it still has to be codified in paperwork and signed off by a bankruptcy court judge. In the off chance that the offer is rebuffed on legal grounds, Reuters identified a $13 million bid from British-based Sports Direct International Plc as the likely replacement to the Dick’s bid. It is also believed that Dick’s will walk away with the rights to 31 former Sports Authority storefronts for which they paid a total of $8 million.