Christmas miracle: Why the Sydney Kings, and the NBL, delivered the gift of live sport

Two years ago, former NBA star and Sydney Kings co-owner Andrew Bogut helped usher in a new Christmas Day tradition.

He helped convince Sydneysiders to leave the prawns and presents at home and go watch an NBL game on December 25 at Sydney Olympic Park.

In the NBA, Christmas Day games have been played during the past 76 years. That league now plays five games back-to-back on what is a special day to many. That’s more than 12 hours of basketball on television.

Bogut believes the Kings’ third festive showdown, against the Illawarra Hawks, at a later time of 8.30 pm, could be the best yet.

“I think the NBL and us as a club, we’ve got to try different things. No one had attempted it in Australia, so to be the first to do it, shows some courage that we’re trying to think outside the box,” Bogut said.

“A big negative to that game is it’s expensive to run. It’s triple pay for staff in the arena so it costs us a lot more to run.

“So some of these smaller NBL teams don’t want to do it because they’re going to come out at a loss, even if they probably sell out, we didn’t really care about that.

Andrew Bogut helped to a start a new Christmas tradition in Sydney with the KingsCredit: Getty Images

“We saw an opportunity to try to be the only team playing basketball in Australia and the only sport playing in Australia, so we thought that we might get some eyeballs by accident.

“And that’s what the numbers show, at least for TV, was that some people are tuning in that are probably casual basketball fans, but AFL, NRL and cricket fans are like: ‘There’s sport on, I’d rather watch that than another eight hours of Christmas Carols’, so that was the risk we took.”

For the first Christmas game against Melbourne United at Qudos Bank Arena two years ago, the Kings drew 7012 fans through the turnstiles, and the game was the most watched of the NBL season.

Last year the Kings and the Hawks on Christmas Day was even better with 8578 fans watching in person. Strong television ratings again followed.

A Sydney Kings fan enjoys the first Christmas game in 2022 against Melbourne UnitedCredit: Getty

Bogut has been impressed by Sydney fans’ appetite for Christmas basketball but is curious to see whether a move from the previous 7.30 pm tip-off – to facilitate more favourable television slots for the league’s broadcasters – will affect ticket sales.

“The first year was decent, last year was even better, and hopefully this year’s even better [for attendance],” Bogut said. “This year is a type of time slot for us just because of TV, it’s going to be interesting to see how much of a crowd we draw just because it’s a late game.

“It might eliminate a lot of kids, but the league wanted us to have the latest slot for TV. But look, you’re in Australia, it’s a little bit different to the US. It’s usually a warmer climate at Christmas, people are barbecuing and everyone loves their family, but probably not for 10 hours. So it’s a good excuse to get out of the house and go see a game.”

The Tasmania JackJumpers, who also began playing on Christmas Day last year, will also take on the New Zealand Breakers. That game starts at 6 pm.

NBL chief executive Dave Stevenson is confident that the slightly later time slot in Sydney will enhance broadcast numbers but not at the cost of fans’ ability to get to the game.

“The Sydney Kings game [on Christmas Day] is the highest watched game of our regular season and that’s on Channel 10 and ESPN,” Stevenson said. “The attendance is growing year-on-year, as more people are understanding about it and it fits into their schedule, and we try and be very thoughtful in celebrating all the great elements of Christmas, but it’s a special day.

“Then it’s really working in close partnership with Channel 10 on that primary channel time slot, which is very important, but we’ve got the earlier game, which is a Tasmania game, a little earlier [at 6pm against the New Zealand Breakers]. But [we’re] really wanting to make sure that we give people as much time as possible during the day to enjoy that the various Christmas functions for those that celebrate it, or for those that don’t, a chance to sit down on the couch and enjoy as a family.”

Stevenson will wait and see whether the league has hit the sweet spot between people attending in person and watching on television.

“We’ll learn no doubt this year,” Stevenson said. “The ticket sales are looking strong, at a similar level and pattern to last year, so we’re encouraged by that.”