As Ted Lasso crossed the pond for its Season 4 premiere, the show’s return also featured the jump to women’s sports, including the real-life NWSL team Kansas City Current.
Following the titular soccer coach’s (Jason Sudeikis) outing to his hometown team’s match in Wednesday’s episode “Home”, filmed at Kansas City’s CPKC Stadium, Current co-owner Angie Long said the cameo feels like an “endorsement” for women’s soccer
“It is a little bit proof of concept. Everything that we’ve built, even a show like Ted Lasso is seeing it. So, I think it’s endorsement,” Long told ESPN. “But again, what it means for sport, for women’s soccer is huge.”
With the 13x Emmy-winning Apple TV show’s return, AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) journeys to Kansas City to ask Ted to coach her new women’s team. Following a moment of doubt over whether the expansion will work, a trip to see the Current’s enthusiastic fanbase (many of which were played by actual Current staff) gives her the confidence she needs.
“They have the ability to raise the profile of women’s sports in such an accelerated way than even we can do on the field. I think it’s fantastic,” she explained. “Maybe this is the Taylor Swift effect that she had on the NFL and the Chiefs, I don’t know.”
Long continued, “But I think that opening the lens, raising the profile is huge; it’s exactly what we want. We’re going into a World Cup year in a year, and we have the Olympics coming, then the Women’s World Cup is going to be here [in 2031]. So, it’s just another thing feeding momentum and really broadening the audience.”
With the first episode of Ted Lasso, Season 4 now available on Apple TV, new episodes hit the streamer on Wednesdays.
