LEGO 2003 / Sports Sets

The LEGO Sports theme was based on a number of sporting activities that ran from 2000 until 2007. It featured basketball, football (soccer), hockey and Gravity Games extreme sports such as skateboarding or snowboarding. Most Sports theme sets included standard LEGO System elements and minifigures but also featured various new unique pieces to enable various playability functions that were characteristic to this theme and set it apart from other sports-related LEGO sets. The LEGO Group secured a number of licensing contracts which allowed LEGO to sell many of its sets with the official logos of major sports organizations, such as NBA, NHL, NHL Players' Association and Gravity Games as well as sporting good manufacturers like Adidas.

2003 LEGO Sets

2003 brought challenges but also key innovations that shaped LEGO’s revival. Realistic skin tones were introduced for licensed themes, while yellow remained standard for original ones. Clikits, Designer, and expanded Sports lines reflected diversification efforts, and 4 Juniors replaced Jack Stone for younger builders. World City modernized the classic Town setting. Though financially turbulent, LEGO’s design experimentation and new audience focus paved the way for its recovery.