In 2001 LEGO released 4 Sports sets across 2 subthemes. The largest Sports set from 2001 was
78800 Soccer Co-Pack with a piece count of 129 and a retail price of $19.99. The current estimated value of all these Sports sets from this year is about $220.52 which represents a 526% growth.
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.
2001 LEGO Sets
2001 was another interesting year for LEGO collecting. LEGO introduced a few very iconic and highly collectable sets which help drive LEGO investments to date, these include the Bionicle theme, Harry Potter, LEGO Racers and Alpha Team. Also introduced in 2001 as well as retired was the Life on Mars theme. We also saw the release of Islanders and Imperial Armada as subthemes of LEGO Pirates. LEGO also expanded its retail footprint in 2001 with brand stores opening in England, Germany, and Russia as well as expansions in the United States. The 2001 notable sets include the Star Wars Darth Maul bust (10018-1), Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series Rebel Blockade Runner (10019-1) and of course the LEGO Dragon sculpture (3724-1).