Dive Brief:

• Coraopolis, Penn.-based Dick’s Sporting Goods has accused New York-based Modell’s Sporting Goods CEO Mitchell Modell of posing as a company executive in order to get the goods on the business.

• In a lawsuit filed in Trenton, NJ, last week, Dick’s Sporting Goods describes how Modell showed up at a Dick’s store in Princeton saying he was a Dick’s vice president, proceeding to persuaded workers to bring him to the back of the store and dish on how things worked there.

• Modell, whose spokespeople have yet to comment on the matter, may have got the spying bug from his stint on the television show Undercover Boss, where the boss or owner of a company poses as a worker bee to find out what it’s really like to work at his company.

Dive Insight:

Well, things have been cold in retail lately, so it’s nice to have a little retail-spy story to liven things up a bit. If he really did what this lawsuit alleges, Modell's actions should definitely be filed under the department of “What was he thinking?”. CEO Mitch Modell heads a company that has been in business with a Modell at the helm since 1889. If the allegations prove true, maybe it's because Modell is exploring a new reality show idea. In any case, perhaps if Modell wants a position at Dick’s Sporting Goods, he should look here.