The Brooks Sports NOligarchy Profile
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Brooks Sports earns a NOligarchy Score of 86.87 out of 100 — a solid result in its peer group, anchored by two pillars that score at the maximum. From Q3 2024 through Q2 2026 (8 quarters — the two-year tracking period), no lobbying filings, no Political Action Committee (PAC) spending, no regulatory fines, and no stock buybacks have been matched to Brooks Sports across any public source this project tracks. The score’s only meaningful drag comes from the wealth extraction pillar, where the absence of mandatory disclosure for a privately held company leaves a significant gap in what the public can verify.
Current Pillar Scores
Political Access
100.0
Wealth Extraction
51.0
Playing by the Rules
100.0
Score history — 23 quarters
Tier bands show where each quarter's score falls — no numeric y-axis needed. The dashed ring marks the year-over-year comparison point. Tap any quarter but the first to see its pillar breakdown.
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Political Access Grade: 100/100. No federal lobbying disclosures, no PAC activity, and no executive contributions to federal candidates have been matched to Brooks Sports during the two-year period. Because this reflects the current state of available records rather than a confirmed finding, the score does not certify zero spending — it certifies zero matched records.
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Wealth Extraction Grade: 51.05/100. No stock buyback or dividend data has been matched to Brooks Sports — consistent with the company’s private corporate structure. The score’s weakness comes from an estimated chief executive officer (CEO)-to-worker pay gap that, by industry benchmarks, is substantial and cannot be confirmed or refuted from any public filing.
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Playing by the Rules Grade: 100/100. No regulatory fines, no violations, and no public subsidy records have been matched to Brooks Sports for this period. As with the political score, the record reflects available sources — not a certified clean bill of conduct.
Brooks Sports ranks 5th out of 12 companies in the Shoe retailers sector. The sector average sits at 81.5, placing Brooks Sports — at 86.87 — above the peer midpoint. Four companies in the same sector score higher, but Brooks Sports holds a stronger position than seven of its twelve tracked peers.
The Bottom Line: A Billion-Dollar Brand Beyond the Public Record’s Reach
Brooks Sports, which reported $1.2 billion in annual revenue according to its own press release, corroborated by SGB Media trade reporting, is a company for which no lobbying, PAC, executive-donation, CEO pay, stock buyback, fine, or subsidy records have been matched across any source this project tracks. That reflects the current state of available public records — not a confirmed finding that the company spends nothing and violates nothing. Private ownership is the defining structural fact here: it is entirely lawful, and it means large portions of corporate conduct — pay ratios, shareholder distributions, tax arrangements — are simply not subject to the mandatory disclosures that apply to publicly traded competitors.
Outside Current Tracking Coverage
No federal lobbying filings have been matched to Brooks Sports for the Q3 2024 through Q2 2026 period. The Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) filing portal shows no matched filings, no issue areas flagged, and no lobbying firms on retainer. No PAC activity and no executive contributions to federal candidates appear in Federal Election Commission (FEC) data for the same stretch. These are the limits of what the current public record confirms — not a certified finding that no such spending occurred.
EXHIBIT — THE RESERVED SEAT
$0 in lobbying · $0 in PAC money
Brooks Sports filed no federal lobbying and ran no corporate PAC in this window — the reserved seat at the witness table sits empty.
No revolving-door hires — former legislators, congressional staffers, or agency officials brought onto the payroll to work political contacts — appear in the matched data.
Pay Data Beyond the Public Record’s Reach
No stock buyback or dividend information has been matched to Brooks Sports — a direct consequence of its private corporate structure, which carries no obligation to report shareholder distributions to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). No missed-raise calculation is possible, and no executive earnings are subject to mandatory public disclosure.
The only available reference point is a sector-wide industry benchmark. Because Brooks Sports is not required to publish a CEO pay ratio, the best available figure is 250:1, based on AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch industry benchmarks for comparable companies in this sector — cited from AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch. That figure is not a confirmed Brooks Sports number; it describes what peer companies in the same sector typically report. Whether the actual gap at Brooks Sports is better or worse than that estimate, no public filing can say.
No Matched Violations in the Available Record
No regulatory fines, no enforcement actions, and no recorded violations have been matched to Brooks Sports in the public enforcement record for the Q3 2024 through Q2 2026 period. No agency penalties, no labor board actions, and no consumer protection settlements appear in the data. For a company generating $1.2 billion in annual revenue, that is a meaningful data point — with the important caveat that it reflects what has been matched across the sources this project tracks, not a comprehensive audit of the company’s full legal and compliance history.
No public subsidy records have been matched either, meaning no documented instances of government grants or tax incentives collected during this period appear in the available data.