Tracking Santa with NORAD & Christmas NBA with Rich Kleiman 12/24/25

0:00Bring in show music, please. This is Squawk Pod, and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa. Merry Christmas. First, the hard news. If the tariffs don't ruin the economy, you think the left is not going to be disappointed? Updates from the Saudi Live Golf League and the president's$100 ,000 charge for H-1B visas. And then the holiday fun. Whether you have a wonderful life and spend Christmas with family or you're home alone, Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie unless, of course, you're a Grinch. Steve Leesman has a ranking of Christmas movies from his latest economic survey. And for those of us who prefer sports on Christmas Day, Rich Kleiman, sports entrepreneur and longtime agent for Kevin Durant.

0:47I mean, these are five incredible games. It's like 13 hours of NBA. Finally, it is a busy day for Santa. Our holiday tradition here at CNBC is we ask the North American aerospace defense to help us track St. Nick on his global journey. General Gregory Guillaume, the Air Force's U.S. Northcom commander, is watching the skies. Rudolph's with his shiny nose and the infrared sensors is helpful. It is Wednesday, December 24th, 2025. Wish everyone a very happy holiday and Merry Christmas and thank you. A very merry Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand, Andrew, bye. In three, two, one, cue, Andrew. Good morning.

1:36Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We're live at the Nasdaq Market Center in Times Square. I'm Andrew Ross Sorkin, along with Joe Kernan. Becky is off on this Christmas Eve. Pro golfer Brooks Koepka saw this yesterday. Brooks Koepka announcing that he's going to leave. He's going to leave live. Saudi Arabia funded Live Golf League more than three years after he joined. A statement from Koepka's representatives says the five-time major championship winner feels now is the right time to spend more time with his family. Koepka was one of the biggest signings when he jumped to the league from the PGA Tour in 2022.

2:12It's unclear if or when he might try to rejoin that tour. rules say he would have to sit out at least a year before returning in a rare statement acknowledging a live player. The PGA Tour said Brooks Koepka is a highly accomplished professional and we wish him and his family continued success. The PGA Tour continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging, and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness. it's pronounced live i you know that's how unconsequential to me this this whole thing has been uh andre and i can't even remember whether it's pronounced live or or live but i guess it's it's a stupid name anyway right i don't know what happened to consolidation efforts or or whatever else that's what i was looking up because i'm like because the deal never really that's what i mean and got there you look at there have been some great players and there's some interesting it's weird for me to watch the cheering and the weird teams I don't know how the points work some of the great players that went there you have to say didn't really flourish like Brooks was was on a fast track the majors winning and I don't know you know I haven't shouldn't be talking about it but I and Dustin Johnson others others that went it just you know and then there's some of the the guys that definitely said no to the huge money Rory and others.

3:40And I don't know. I don't know how it finally reconcised, reconcised itself, but that's an interesting story. So it's live. It is live. Meantime, the Trump administration notching a win in its campaign to charge $100 ,000 for new HB1 visas. That's for highly skilled foreign workers. Federal judge rejecting a challenge to the fee that had been brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber arguing that the fee conflicts with federal immigration law and is going to lead to companies cutting jobs and public services. But the judge said that President Trump's move fell under his broader power to regulate immigration.

4:18She was appointed by former President Barack Obama, in case you're wondering. So a little bit of context and detail there on that decision. I didn't watch Hunter yesterday. I don't know if you saw it, but it's a cover of The Post. It's very strange. Did you see? I did not. It's bizarre. It's got everybody. It's got everybody. It says that President Obama didn't let him lobby domestically or was saying, you're not allowed to do that. Joe Biden was the vice president, so his son told him that's why he had to go and do it abroad at Burisma and Ukraine and other places. But the Post decided that was the most important story of not the 4.3 percent GDP.

5:01That's a pretty good number yesterday. We'll see if it lasts. What happened to the government's slowdown? Was that in the next? I think we're going to have to see everything in about a month or two to actually figure out what's going on. I'm not. You were embracing it. You're very happy that it happened. You just think we can't take it as. Sure. But I also think. No. Are you happy? Because a lot of people were not happy about it. Well, the people who were not happy were people who wanted lower interest rates. And people just. That's not the only people who didn't want a good number. No, no. Look, we all want a good number.

5:34who hate Trump that didn't want a good number. We all want a good number. You are not the royal we here. You do not speak for the left. It doesn't have to be put through the context of some kind of... You always say you don't speak for the left. I do not. And in this case, you definitely don't, because they didn't like that number. What are you talking about? What do you mean they didn't like that number? Will you ever move into the real world and admit what the real world actually looks like? The real world is not just living in some kind of politically divided universe, Oh, my God. Religious.

6:03You think the left. Everything on every. Andrew, if the tariffs don't ruin the economy, you think the left is going to is not going to be disappointed. I imagine people who argued that it. Yeah, sure. In a certain way. But I don't think if you see good numbers, you see good numbers. I know it's Christmas time. And you're being, you know, you're. I got my candy cane tie on. I was looking at that. That's like a Maroony thing. Is it actually red? It's candy cane. It's supposed to be candy cane. Is it supposed to be candy cane? I mean, it's in the candy cane vicinity. It's not a real candy cane, but sure, I thought I was, you know.

6:40That's nice. I wore red, then I wore green. I thought about purple today. Purple's kind of a Christmassy color, isn't it? But then I thought it would look like, you know, purple strategies, whatever that is. I think, you know, a nice Grinch outfit for you, I think, would be good. A nice Grinch outfit. No. Walmart has a lot of... Do they have a lot of Grinch this year? They have a lot in their ads. The Grinch is their spokesperson. Really? Have you ever noticed that? No. You're reading your own book or something? I'm so focused on the children. On the children. Okay. A large number of baristas that were on strike are set to return to their coffeehouse counters.

7:20Starbucks chief partner officer Sarah Kelly posted the news online saying that The Starbucks Workers United Union issued an unconditional return to work notice. Kelly said employees at 166 of the 215 affected coffee houses want to come back, though some locations will remain under a strike notice. In a post on X, the union said baristas are continuing to strike. It also said that yesterday 19 additional Starbucks locations filed for a union election. Cheese will be next. Coming up on Squawk Pod, Christmas viewing. First, how popular is your favorite Christmas movie? Steve Leisman has rankings from his All-America Economic Survey.

8:09Die Hard, which came out in July. So there's a debate about whether it is a Christmas movie. We'll talk about that in a second. Don't worry, that's not number one. Then famed agent for Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman, previews the five NBA matchups on Christmas Day. The NBA is just like filled with incredible young stars right now. And then you still have LeBron, Steph and Kevin and James Harden, some of these older guys that are still performing at a high level.

8:44Welcome back to Squawk Pod this Christmas Eve with Joe Kernan and Andrew Ross-Sorkin. Now to the great Christmas Day viewing debate. Christmas movies or sports? Senior economics reporter Steve Leisman is at the table this morning. The result of the CNBC All-America Economic Survey and what Americans watch on the holidays, sir. We threw this question in with our survey, decided to save it until now, have a little fun. Whether you have a wonderful life and spend Christmas with family or your Home Alone, everyone has a favorite Christmas movie, unless, of course, you're a Grinch. We asked 1 ,000 Americans, tell us your favorite Christmas movie.

9:23And the winner is Home Alone, number one, chosen by about 15 % of people made that the number one Christmas movie, followed by Elf. And then Grinch, which, by the way, I think Grinch gets two entries there, right? Because there's the cartoon Grinch and there's the movie Grinch. I think most people are probably picking the movie Grinch, followed by my personal favorite, It's a Wonderful Life. And then Die Hard, which came out in July. So there's a debate about whether it is a Christmas movie. We'll talk about that in a second. A Christmas story and a Christmas vacation are honorable mentions here.

9:59Worth pointing out, no movie that got any substantial votes was made more recently than 2003. So we can empirically say the public thinks they don't make them like they used to. We also ask more generally, how do you entertain yourself on Christmas? And here are the results. 66 % watch or stream a movie at home. 37 % are watching live sports. 29 % go to the movies. 23 % attend a play musical or concert. This is during the holiday season, I suspect. Honorable mentions of going to a sporting event and traveling out of the country for 8 % of the public. The NFL seems to have figured out that people like sports on Christmas.

10:34This is the third year in a row that there are three NFL games. I think a couple of them are streamed. I think one of them is on regular network. And they tend to raid more highly than the average game, though it might have eaten into the NBA game audience, which used to own the day for sports. We also picked up, by the way, a bit of the K-shaped economy with how people spend their Christmas. When it comes to when you see a movie in a theater, 38 percent of the financial elites say they will. And by the way, that's people with higher salaries and more money in the market. So those are the gaps between the higher and lower income on the issue of attending a play or a concert, as well as attending a sporting event.

11:11More people with money tend to do those things on Christmas Day. So, guys, I know what you want to talk about. We could talk about the GDP numbers yesterday and this K-shaped stuff that was in there. I have one movie question for you, which is I am finding because, you know, I have children that they are less interested in watching movies. than they used to be. That they're more interested, unfortunately, in the doom scroll on the phone. Harder to get them to watch a two or three hour, you know, like a real movie because of just the length of it. By the way, we were trying to watch, have you seen F1?

11:48Oh, the Formula One thing. Which is now on Apple. I thought, oh, that's like an action-packed thing. Can't really hold their attention for as long as they used to. Whereas I feel like sports continue to hold people's attention. Maybe. Joe and I, I think I have kids more in similar age than yours. Right. One thing I found was that things that I thought were great movies and you want to turn the kids on to them. Yeah, they're not. They're like, Dad, this is really boring. The cutting, that kind of stuff. And I don't know. You have younger kids. So they're even more attuned to the short attention space.

12:20Yes. And I just wonder what that's going to do longer term. I think that's what's going on with the whole media right now. Right. Which is which is the idea. I mean, sometimes you just you're like, well, you want these quick video things that are out there. Well, then it raises a question about the value of the libraries of all these streaming services. If you don't think the next generation is going to care about movies the same way or TV shows the same way because of the attention. Definitely changing a little. My 25-year-old son now is in the process right now of watching old movies. Okay. So he came back to a bunch of stuff.

12:53I was like, Johnny, what's this? He's like, no. A lot of references to Christmas in Die Hard. I mean, it's the Christmas party. What a great movie. Nakatomi Plaza. they kill the the one guy and he comes down in his santa claus outfit and then han says uh now there are only six of you ho ho ho remember han says that the only thing i remember from that movie is yippee-ki-yay you know what yeah you don't remember when the guy comes in they he snaps his neck he comes they send him down on the elevator and the elevator doors open and someone screams and and he's got oh but but the debate is that you could do that whole movie without any Christmas reference.

13:31You could. What's Hans' name? Bruce Willis apparently said it's a Bruce Willis movie, not a Christmas movie. Hans Gruber, who really didn't have any political ideology. I thought the more interesting debate might be one about Potter versus Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. We sit here and where do we stand as capitalists here on Potter taking over a failed savings and loan? Bailey running a risky book? Even back then, we know where Hollywood was. There was no FDIC insurance at that point. What's that? There was no FDIC insurance. No FDIC insurance, and he tried to cajole people to keep your money in the bank.

14:07Right. There's a lot of interesting economic stuff that's been written about this Potter versus Bailey. One thing that is for sure. What year was A Wonderful Life supposed to have taken place in, do we know? It was current in 1939. Oh, was it? Yeah. Well, no, no, because there was FDIC, having now written 1929. There was in 1939. FDIC insurance was put in place in 1933 as part of the Glass-Steagall Act. I think then they would have had it. I don't remember if they did. One thing that is for sure, though. Pre the Bank Act of 1940. Our lending system is totally anonymous. Right. The idea that you would know the person you're borrowing from.

14:51Right. And when George Bailey gives that famous speech of, I don't have your money. hey, your money is in so-and-so's house. That does it. Every single debt market we have is completely anonymous. Martini. And then that horrible guy took over the bar, remember, when George hadn't lived? That's right. His name is terrible. Get your kids to watch that. What about Christmas vacation? Why is Christmas vacation? I thought that would be higher. I could see if it's on the list. No, you said it was an honorable mention. Well, here's the thing. We've done these in two different ways. I reason your thought.

15:25Sometimes we create the list and ask people about it, or we just take their answer and we catalog it. And that's, we did the latter with this one. So I don't know if we'd had that on the list, if that would have rated higher. You read them, I don't know. That's Chevy Chase, right? And Randy Quaid and Beverly D 'Angelo. And I think there was a different Russell. Why do you think they haven't made a movie since then, 03? Why has it been so long since? One has come on and been part of the whole firmament. Are there any good new songs? Mariah Carey is the last song that took off, right? Yeah. George Michael.

16:04Remember George Michael? Yeah. So we're just locked in. That's it. Christmas now and forever. When the boomers are gone, the world's going to look a lot different. They're not as good. Better? No. Like if George had never been born. Don't you worry, though, that, like, you sit there and say, this is how things were and they were better. And then you kind of foreclose that kind of stuff. It's like, you know, they may have good ideas. No, it's true. These millennials and these Gen Zers. No. That's your kids you're talking about. I know. They're different. They're different. Right.

16:43Tomorrow, sports fans can watch five basketball matchups during the annual Christmas games. It's a tradition nearly as old as the NBA itself. Joining us right now is Rich Kleinman. He is the co-founder and CEO of Boardroom. Let's tango. Rich, it's nice to see you, sir. Nice to see you. How are you guys? We're good. Merry Christmas. So tomorrow we have a lot of NBA, but we also have a lot of NFL going on. So I'm curious how you think this is all going to play out. Yeah. I actually think the NBA's got a great opportunity tomorrow. I was interested to see how all things would unfold when the NFL started playing on Christmas Day.

17:24But tomorrow, the NBA has five incredible games. And unfortunately for the NFL, they have three games that don't mean as much as they probably thought it would mean when the schedule came out. You have Broncos, the Chiefs are not in it. You have Vikings, Lions, Vikings are not in it. And then Cowboys, Commanders, both those guys are not in it. So the NBA has five incredible games, a good mix of the old stars and these young stars. So I think it's a great day tomorrow for the NBA. Someone pointed out all third-string quarterbacks in three of the games. But you can still bet. I mean, you can still bet.

17:59But it's even hard to bet when you don't know, you know, whether anybody's going to complete a pass. Where are you going to be, Rich, tomorrow? I am going to be in the Bahamas, my friends. but I will be glued to the NBA games. And, Joe, it is not hard to bet. There will still be tons of gambling happening. But from the stakes of the games, you won't have Mahomes playing tomorrow. So that's obviously big with the Chiefs-Broncos game at night. And I don't know if you saw the NBA lineup, but they have Oklahoma City and San Antonio. So you have Wemby and then obviously Shea. You have Anthony Edwards versus Jokic.

18:38You have KD versus LeBron. You have the Knicks at the Garden. And then you have Steph versus the Mavericks. I mean, these are five incredible games. It's like 13 hours of NBA. That's true. I'm transitioning into NBA. I'm not quite there. It's still early, isn't it, Rich? Sort of getting out of the college bowl and the NFL. It's time. I got to move in. I didn't know what you just described is really good, and it makes me happy for tomorrow. Yeah, and you should get into it. I mean, I think the NBA did a great job of making the early games matter with the NBA Cup. And obviously the Spurs just won it last week, beating the Knicks.

19:20Or the Knicks won it. Sorry, the Knicks beat the Spurs. But right now, with the West being so competitive, you have like six teams that are four or five games apart. The NBA is just like filled with incredible young stars right now. And then you still have LeBron, Steph and Kevin and James Harden, some of these older guys that are still performing at a high level. But Wemby and Shea and Anthony Edwards, this is like the best young crop of stars at the league scene since these older guys were young. What do you make, Rich? This is maybe taking it off of Christmas for a second. But starting in January, you know, there's this plan for the NBA to try to expand in Europe, try to do this collaboration with FIBA.

20:01What do you think that means for the league long term? I think it's incredible. I mean, obviously, the game has grown so much globally. so many of the top players in the league are from outside of America. You know what the all-star game format this year is going to be the USA versus the world. But I think the ability to tap into some of these existing fan bases, these like deep rooted communities around some of these international football teams, these soccer teams, the PSGs and Real Madrid's of the world, you don't get the opportunity to bring a built-in fan base like that. And I think these cities are ready for basketball.

20:35I mean, it's as popular around the world now as it's ever been. And I think from the NBA standpoint, to be able to, like, build that brand and cement that brand around the world, since some of those players are playing in their league in America, is an incredible opportunity. And I think down the road, you'll have the ability for some of these guys, some of these college players that you've got to know that become, like, familiar names to go play over there. And I think there'll be, like, a real demand for it. I'm excited for it. I think it's an incredible opportunity for the league. Do you see a moment where there really is transatlantic playing?

21:10I mean, people have been waiting for, you know, these new planes to get faster. But do you ever see a moment? I mean, people, you know, obviously there's different exhibition games and other things that go on. But do you ever see five, ten years from now a completely different sort of setup? Yeah, I think it will happen slowly. Like, I think, you know, you already have games in the preseason where teams go over to the Middle East. They go over to Asia. Listen, if you're flying from New York to L.A. or New York to Portland, you're talking about a six hour flight, six and a half hour flight. So the idea of flying to go play in London or Paris, I don't think is so crazy.

21:51And I think that there'll be the ability to have like some fun in midseason tournaments the way they do with the NBA Cup. But I don't think travel ultimately becomes the issue. I think that that league will probably run and stand on its own. But as the league evolves and the talent continue to evolve, I think there'll be great synergy with the two leagues. You want to pick the NBA Finals this year right now? Too early? I mean, it's not too early. You know, I think in the East, you have like a surprising Detroit team right now who's been first place most of the season. I think the Knicks clearly are in contention.

22:30Philly, when healthy, can compete with anybody. You know, I think Miami's surprising people. But in the West, Oklahoma City, who got off to an incredible start and everyone thought would run away with it, they've now lost a few games. The Spurs are incredible. I mean, the Spurs have such a great young nucleus, and Wemby obviously is like a once-in-a-lifetime player. So if I had to guess, I'm obviously going to go with my man KD and the Houston Rockets versus the Knicks. And then final question, hot new sport that's going to come on the scene in 2026. Is there anything anything out there that we got to keep our eyes on?

23:04I know people talk about a sports bubble, but there's, you know, here we are in this moment. Yeah, I mean, you know how I feel about that. I mean, I think it's not a sports bubble. There's demand for all these sports. There may not be a demand for this model for all these sports, especially if they try to replicate the model of traditional leagues. But, you know, Padel has just grown in popularity and exploded in popularity. There's some great new brands around Padel. Everywhere you travel now, these hotels are building Padel courts. There's clubs opening. There's some great new clubs in the city that have opened.

23:37My friend Ronnie Feig from Kith just opened Kith Ivy. There's the Reserve Padel Club. So I think that the Padel League is starting to gain a little bit of traction. The sport is so big in Europe. I do see Padel having an opportunity. But again, you have to build these brands with a unique business. You can't think of this as trying to replicate the NBA or the NFL or the MLB. Okay. Rich, I want to thank you. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you a lot more in 2026. Thank you. Same here. Thanks, guys. Merry Christmas. Coming up on Squawk Pod, Santa Claus is coming to town tonight, but he's already started his journey around the world.

24:14We'll talk to the experts at NORAD who have been tracking his path for 70 years. The U.S. Air Force's NORTHCOM Commander General Gregory Guillaume. Santa's probably the most disciplined and capable aviator that we've ever seen. And so he generally can avoid any type of conflict.

24:39Welcome back to Squawk Pod. You're watching Squawk Box on CNBC, a special edition, a Christmas Eve edition of Squawk Box. I'm Andrew Ross Sorkin, along with Joe Kernan. Becky is off enjoying Christmas Eve. Santa Claus has started his Christmas journey, and the experts at North American Aerospace Defense Command are tracking his path now for the 70th year. Joining us now from NORAD, Air Force General Gregory Guillot. General, it's good to have you on. Good morning. Good morning. Godspeed. Be careful. Do you have time to talk to us or should you be somewhere else? Of course, I have time to talk.

25:19Merry Christmas to you. Are you sure we don't want to, you know, safety is paramount here. Can you tell the story since it's 70 years? What happened before I was born, Andrew, 1950? So this is before I was born, General, when this first happened. Some kid, there was a phone number on TV to call Santa, and he transposed the number and got NORAD, or the predecessor to NORAD. That really happened. That's exactly right. Colonel Shoup answered the call. He was on alert. You know, we have the watch and have had it for 70 years. And he quickly thought through the problem and eased the kid's concern and told him that Santa was airborne but not able to talk at that time.