50 Fun Facts About Christmas Sports

NBA games on Christmas Day have been an annual tradition since which year, the league's second season?

The Knicks beat the Providence Steamrollers 89-75 at Madison Square Garden in the first one.

Which team did the New York Knicks beat in the first NBA Christmas Day game?

The score was 89-75 at Madison Square Garden.

Which player holds the record for most points in an NBA Christmas Day game, with 60 in 1984?

His Knicks have both the most Christmas wins (26) and the most losses (32).

How many NBA games were scheduled on Christmas Day each year from 2008 to 2024?

The five-game slate ran every Christmas from 2008 through 2024; by comparison the NFL's Thanksgiving slate has three games.

How many Christmas Day wins had the Knicks, the NBA leader, recorded through 2025?

The Knicks played the very first Christmas game in 1947; through 2025 their holiday record stood at 26-32.

Which coach set the record of 11 Christmas Day coaching wins, later matched by Phil Jackson in 2008?

Ramsay coached Portland from 1976 to 1986 and called a home win on Christmas 'a perfect Christmas'.

In 2009 and 2010 the NBA scheduled the Lakers at home on Christmas to showcase which two stars head to head?

The opponents were Cleveland in 2009 and Miami in 2010.

The first NFL games ever scheduled on Christmas Day were played in which year?

The decision drew considerable criticism at the time.

The longest game in NFL history, on Christmas Day 1971, pitted the Dolphins against which team?

It lasted 82 minutes 40 seconds and was the Chiefs' last game at Municipal Stadium.

Who kicked the winning field goal in the second overtime of the 1971 Christmas Day game?

His 37-yarder came after 7:40 of the second OT for a 27-24 Miami win.

How long, in game time, was the longest NFL game ever?

A regulation game is 60 minutes.

The other NFL game on Christmas Day 1971 saw the Dallas Cowboys beat which team 20-12?

The Vikings outgained Dallas 311-183 but still lost.

On which date do the UK's major football leagues traditionally play a full programme of fixtures?

Rugby league also long kept festive fixtures.

The Boxing Day Test is played annually where?

A Victoria v New South Wales Sheffield Shield match had been played there over Christmas since 1865.

In which year did the Australian Cricket Board formalise the Boxing Day Test tradition?

It coincided with the Nine Network buying the TV rights.

The MCG's largest-ever Boxing Day crowd came in which year, for the fourth Ashes Test?

Big Bash competition has made attendance vary in other years.

On which date does the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race start?

It is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

The inaugural Sydney to Hobart race in 1945 was won by which yacht?

John Illingworth's boat took six days, 14 hours and 22 minutes.

The Sydney to Hobart event began after a visiting British naval officer suggested what?

Peter Luke and friends had planned a cruise; Captain John Illingworth said race it.

How many people died in the storm that hit the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race?

Five boats sank in winds like a low-category hurricane.

Approximately how long is the Sydney to Hobart course?

That is about 1,170 km down the New South Wales coast and across Bass Strait.

Which yacht set a Sydney to Hobart race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes in 2017?

It beat Perpetual Loyal's mark from the year before.

In which year of the First World War was the Christmas Truce?

Germans placed candles on their trenches and sang carols.

What was the score in Robert Graves's 1962 fictional Christmas Truce football match?

Many accounts of the truce mention football, but details vary and some are embellished.

The Spengler Cup, the world's oldest invitational hockey tournament, is played each year in which town?

It runs from 26 to 31 December, hosted by HC Davos.

Which club had won the most Spengler Cups, 17, by the end of 2025?

Swiss teams as a group had won 23 by then.

The Spengler Cup was first held in which year?

Carl Spengler founded it partly to promote German-speaking teams shunned after World War I.

The King George VI Chase moved to Boxing Day in which year, after the war?

It was first run in February 1937 and named for the new king.

Which horse won the King George VI Chase a record five times?

Desert Orchid won it four times.

The King George VI Chase is run at which racecourse?

It is about three miles with eighteen fences.

On which date does the IIHF World Junior Championship traditionally begin?

It runs to about January 5.

Which country led the World Juniors all-time gold count, with 20, at the end of 2025?

The Soviet Union, CIS and Russia combined had 13 at that point.

The first official World Junior Championship was held in which year?

Three unofficial editions ran from 1974 to 1976.

The Hawaii Bowl is typically played on or near which day?

It has been played in the Honolulu area since 2002.

Which four venues, in order, host the Four Hills ski-jumping tournament that spans New Year?

It has run in Germany and Austria every year since 1953.

Who was the first ski jumper to win all four Four Hills events in one edition, in 2001-02?

Stoch and Kobayashi later matched the 'grand slam'.

The PDC World Darts Championship has been held at which London venue since 2008?

The 2025-26 edition expanded to 128 players and a £1 million top prize.

How many PDC World Championships did Phil Taylor win?

He last won it in 2013, from 25 appearances.

The NHL Winter Classic is played outdoors on or around which day?

The first, in 2008, was Sabres v Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park.

Which two teams played the first Winter Classic in 2008?

The 2014 edition between Toronto and Detroit drew a record 105,491 fans.

Which team won the 1965 NFL Championship Game at Lambeau Field the weekend after Christmas?

It was played on January 2, 1966, in the mud and snow.

Which now-defunct college football game was traditionally the only one scheduled on Christmas Day itself?

Its replacement, the Hawaii Bowl, moved off Christmas when ESPN/ABC took on the NBA's Christmas games.

Which player had played a record 20 NBA Christmas Day games through 2025?

Phil Jackson, as player and coach, has taken part in at least 20 holiday games too, and won his 1,000th game on Christmas Day 2008.

How many Christmas Day games had the Knicks played through 2025, the most of any NBA team?

Their 26-32 holiday record through 2025 includes the most wins of any team; the 2025 game beat Cleveland 126-124.

The modern Boxing Day Test tradition began with the Third Test of which Ashes series, squeezed into a six-Test schedule?

No Melbourne Test had been played on Boxing Day between 1953 and 1967; the Australian board formalised the fixture in 1980.

Since 2020, the Boxing Day Test's player of the match has received a medal named after which cricketer?

The award honours the Indigenous Australian cricketer; an official Player of the Match has been named in the fixture since 1975.

Which yacht has taken Sydney to Hobart line honours a record nine times?

In 2017 she crossed the line first in an unofficial record time but a one-hour penalty for a near-miss handed the win to LDV Comanche.

Which trophy goes to the overall handicap winner of the Sydney to Hobart race?

Formally the George Adams Tattersall Cup, it is Australia's foremost offshore sailing prize, judged on length, shape, weight and sail dimensions.

The Welsh Grand National is scheduled each year on which date at Chepstow?

First run in 1895 at Ely Racecourse in Cardiff, the handicap chase covers about 3 miles 6½ furlongs over 23 fences.

Boxing Day is one of the main dates in which sporting calendar in the UK, with meets often held in town centres?

Mounted foxhound and harrier packs and foot packs of beagles or bassets traditionally gather that day in Britain and the US.