On Sunday, January 11, during a session at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2026 venue, Ed Stack, executive chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods, took a deep dive into the company’s leadership strategies which have paved the way for its success while also indicating that he remained bullish on Dick’s recently-acquired Foot Locker business which he described as a “fixer upper.”

“We couldn’t be more excited about Foot Locker,” said Stack, who was wearing a pair of Nike shoes at the venue. “Foot Locker is a company that many of you know fell on difficult times for a number of different reasons, but we see the real potential in what Foot Locker can become.

“Foot Locker was, at one time, the premier specialty athletic footwear retailer. They are ingrained in the fabric of the country, especially in more urban areas, and we see a huge opportunity there,” he continued.

Stack was interviewed during the session at the Javits Center in New York City by Bob Eddy, BJ’s Wholesale Club Chairman and CEO, and a Dicks’ board member since 2023.

Stack summarized several core reasons why the company purchased Foot Locker, including securing global reach, as the retailer has stores in the EMEA and Asia. The purchase also allows Dick’s to “service communities that we wouldn’t be able to service before,” particularly in urban areas where space constraints and high rent made opening a Dick’s unfeasible.

Stack also called out the potential to return Foot Locker “back in its rightful place at the top of the specialty chain.” He added, “If somebody asked me, is it better or worse than you thought? Our team did terrific due diligence on it, and it’s basically what we characterized it as. Drawing on an analogy, if this were a house that we bought, we’d refer to it as a fixer-upper. But we are well on our way.”

Stack also highlighted the “unbelievable management team” Dick’s has established to run the Foot Locker business in North America, citing the hiring of former Nike VP Ann Freeman as president of Foot Locker North America, and Brett O’Brien, formerly chief sports officer at PepsiCo, as chief marketing officer of Foot Locker North America.

The North American Foot Locker team also includes several Dick’s VPs shifting roles to oversee parts of the Foot Locker business, as well as the retention of former Foot Locker executives with knowledge of the business. Stack said Foot Locker’s EMEA management team still has some spots to fill compared to North America, but he expects “they’ll catch up quickly.”

Stack concluded about Foot Locker, “We could not be more excited and more enthusiastic about it. The brands are enthusiastic about it. And, if we had a mulligan, having owned it for the four months as we’ve had now, and getting into all the nitty gritty, we would do it all over again.”

House of Sport to Double Store Count
On other topics, Stack raved about the success and potential of the House of Sport experiential concept, which was created on the vision that “if somebody else built this store across the street from one of our traditional stores, we’re out of business.” The concept reimagines community, service and product within the sports retailing experience.

Said Stack, “It’s been a great concept. The team did a great job working collaboratively, and we could not be prouder of them. We’ve got 35 of them operating today. We will open another 15 or so this next year, and by 2028, or so, we will have somewhere between 75 and 100 of them. So we’re jazzed about it.”

Dick’s Customer Seeks Newness
Asked about the state of Dick’s customer, Stack said his shoppers are in “pretty good shape,” with many items purchased at sports retailers being less discretionary than in other categories. He remarked, “Your daughter wore a size 6 soccer cleat last year. She needs a size 7 this year. You don’t walk up to her, put your arm around her, and say, “Hey, honey, you know what? Curl up your toes. Put on last year’s soccer cleats and go play soccer.” You buy a new pair of soccer cleats. So, we’re in a good lane for that.”

Still, Stack said the consumer is looking for a reason to buy.

“The consumer is more cautious today,” said Stack. “The consumer, at least from what we’ve seen, is looking for something that is innovative, different, that they feel will provide them value. And value is not always a lower price. Value is what ‘does it mean to me’? ‘Is it going to make me a better player’? ‘Is going to make me feel like I’m a better player?’”

Stack admitted that “some of the products that are a couple of years old, that have not changed; they’ve been difficult, they’ve been slower.” However, he credited Dick’s buying team for bringing enough newness to assortments. Said Stack, “Our job is to be innovative and to bring to the consumer what they are looking for and what is next out there. To be a really good retailer, you have to be able to look around corners. Fortunately, we have a team that is good at looking around corners.”

In late November, Dick’s raised its earnings and sales guidance for the year after reporting same-store sales, excluding Foot Locker, rose 5.7 percent during its fiscal third quarter, well ahead of the 3.6 percent growth analysts had expected.

Leadership Strategies
Organizationally, Stack credits Dick’s recent success, in large part, to the “great partnership” he has with Lauren Hobart, who replaced him as CEO in 2024 after serving in the role for 37 years. In his current position as executive chairman, Stack oversees merchandising and leads several key strategic growth initiatives for Dick’s, including the Foot Locker business.

Said Stack, “If you talk to anyone on our team, they will say, ‘If I’ve heard from Lauren, I’ve heard from Ed,’ and ‘If I’ve heard from Ed, I’ve heard from Lauren.” I think that’s important. That’s not to say we don’t sometimes have a difference of opinion.”

Stack also said the company has benefited from establishing a “unique org chart” represented in a diamond shape with “athletes,” or what Dick’s calls its customers, at the top and himself at the bottom. The goal for each employee, he said, is to ensure that employees reporting directly to them have all the resources necessary to succeed. Said Stack, “Theoretically, the further away you get from the athlete, the less you should talk and the more you should listen.”

Asked about leadership principles, Stack said a major one was to “live that org chart,” or commit to giving others you work with the best chance for success. He noted that such commitment comes down to making smart hires who are fully committed to the team over individual success.

“Lauren always talks about, ‘We don’t tolerate brilliant jerks,’” said Stack. “If someone’s a problem and it’s not working from a cultural standpoint, they don’t make it.”

Stack noted that he tries to ensure that company employees, particularly at the corporate level, who Dick’s hires, embrace a “left tackle” mentality, with the “left tackle” not playing the most glorified position on the football field but playing the critical role in protecting the blind side of the quarterback. The retailer hands out a “Left Tackle” recognition award to an employee making such a commitment, which he said has been key to building Dick’s culture.

Said Stack, “We’ve kissed a few frogs along the way, but the thing I’m most proud of is the management team we have today and the culture that we have in our company.”

He compared Dick’s culture to the fight shown by the Chicago Bears in their Friday win over the Green Bay Packers. Stack said, “It’s amazing how many dropped passes, muffed fumbles and everything they had. But they never gave up and they believed that they were going to win. I don’t think that they ever thought they weren’t going to win. Michael Jordan had this comment, ‘I never lost the game. I just ran out of time.’ I think that’s the Bears are the epitome of kind of our organization.”

AI’s Influence
Asked about the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI), the primary topic at the NRF conference, Stack remarked, “Not many of us understand exactly where it’s going to take us, but we know it’s going to change the world.”

He said Dick’s is looking at AI as a tool to enhance productivity rather than to reduce personnel. Stack said, “AI is going to change everything we’re doing. It’s going to change the way we look at what we do from a marketing standpoint and from an assortment standpoint. I think AI will be important for which products we put next to others as we build out baskets. I think there is a huge opportunity from the AI standpoint.”

Stack does not believe that anyone should “be afraid” of the technology, arguing that Dick’s has benefited from taking a “glass half full” view of the benefits that may come from technologically driven change.

Stack said a few years ago, Dick’s prioritized that AI at corporate meetings, and whenever someone came up with an idea, those critiquing it would have to say, “Yes, if” to intentionally explore alternative ways in which it could work rather than a “No, because” response that often ends further discussion.

Said Stack, “There is a different mindset when you start off with ‘Yes if,’ as opposed to ‘No, because’ so there’s no ‘No, because,” in our business. That is a powerful point we have made around our business, and we are seeing just incredible results from AI, not to reduce the number of people we have working for us, but to solve more complex problems that we have.

Image courtesy Dick’s Sporting Goods