Do Sports Play Well with Lego?
Hey there Lego fans.
I was designing a build in Bricklink Studio and it is related to basketball, which got me thinking - Do sports themed sets generally do well in Lego?
Lego Ideas has a challenge from May 5, 2026 to June 3, 2026 called “Hoops and Heroes” where fan designers can submit builds of basketball mascots for a chance to become an official set. After 2 weeks (as of just May 19) there are only 24 submissions. I don’t have a lot of experience with Ideas only just starting to submit builds and follow challenges as of 2024, but that feels like a small number of submissions. By comparison, “A Twist of Nostalgia” received 739 submissions, “City Life Creations - Design a Vendor Cart!” received 773 submissions, “Pokemon Trading Card Game Challenge: Build Your Card!” received 756 submissions, and a current challenge in the voting stage “Rebuilding Outdoor Adventures” received 619 submissions. Of course, the “Hoops and Heroes” challenge still has 15 more days for fans to submit their builds, but the current number feels like there isn’t a lot of interest.
Lego Ideas Challenge: Hoops and Heroes
Here’s a submission I created of San Antonio Spurs mascot, Coyote, for Lego Ideas’ challenge called Hoops and Heroes.
Looking back at Lego and sports, in the early 2000s Lego had sets that covered soccer, basketball, hockey and more. According to Brickset, under the Sports theme, there are 134 sets that fall under the category. Many of these sets were focused on the specialized spring-loaded bases for builders to attach minifigures to and perform the kicking, shooting, or swinging motion. You would pull back on the minifigure to launch a ball towards the net. In my opinion, this was a pretty fun way to enjoy Lego. You could build the small set and minifigure, then “play” the sport. It was like having a mini-arcade at home that was made out of Lego. But, these sets were short lived only being produced from 2003 to 2007.
The basketball sets in these 2000s sets featured NBA players including Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Vince Carter to name a few. I’m sure these did well with basketball/NBA fans - I am one of those and these are awesome. But, outside of these fans, I can see how it doesn’t really matter to the average Lego builders. Which make sense in that the run with Lego didn’t continue.
Of course, we did see Lego and Nike partner years later in 2025. Nike being a sponsor of the NBA, being the main provider of the player jerseys. But, in this case, the Lego sets we see from Nike are focused on shoes rather than play features. Although, we get some pretty cool minifigures, despite being generic versus based on actual players. With these Nike sets, I don’t see how well these translate to play with Lego either. They are more of a display model and don’t necessarily grab the attention of every Lego fan.
Lego did release the Real Madrid Santiago Bernabeu Stadium (10299) in 2022. RRP was $400 and the current value according to Brickset is $626, so this has done fairly well in the after market. But, the build is different than other sports sets. Rather than focusing on play, the build is just the stadium itself. It’s still a beautiful build.
With the Nike partnership, Lego has made a theme/category that dives into sports again - Editions. I wrote about Lego Editions here. Still early in it’s Lego life, we’ll see how popular these sets become amongst Lego fans. I do like that F1 (a part of the Speed Champions theme) is a part of the Lego family because these are easy to play with and then use the pieces to create something different if builders choose. So, there’s that playability and recreation-ability (is that word?) with that theme within the sports theme. Also, the helmets are awesome from a window shopper - I still need to get one and build it.
Here’s a pros and cons list of the sports theme and sets in Lego.
Pros:
Playable spring-action pieces
Some of the builds are great display pieces
Geared towards fans of the sports - soccer, basketball, hockey, F1
Cons:
The early 2000s sets don’t have a lot of re-playability
Shoe focus isn’t necessarily kid or play friendly
Geared towards sports fans means it may deter interest for average Lego builders
This does make me think, with the specific players / sports heroes we see in these sets, are sports fans following players or teams? That’s a different conversation. But also, are Lego builders who are buying these sets playing with them or building them to display? Sports are one of the things that can connect so many people. We see athletes buying and building Lego across many different sports. So, I think we’ll also see Lego builders enjoy the current collection of sports related sets. Of course, I can’t leave out those Lego builders (like me) who enjoy nostalgic sets and sports.
So, 2 questions for our readers. 1.) Do you like old and/or new Lego sports sets? 2.) What do you want to see in the future of Lego sports sets?
Would love to hear from you. Let me know your thoughts!
Thanks for reading Lego fans. Keep building.