{"id":983370,"date":"2026-08-06T00:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/983370\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:02:23","slug":"ted-lasso-season-4-premiere-kansas-city-mayor-spills-filming-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/983370\/","title":{"rendered":"Ted Lasso Season 4 Premiere: Kansas City Mayor Spills Filming Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTed Lasso<\/a> is back on Apple<\/a> TV, and Ted Lasso is back in Kansas City<\/a>. He\u2019s not there for long, but he\u2019s there long enough to give the KC Tourism Board the best free advertising money can\u2019t buy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Kansas City<\/a> side ultimately got paid for hosting the filming location for the season four premiere \u2014 ain\u2019t Ted Lasso nice? Speaking of Kansas City and sides (I\u2019m not talking about the cheesy corn, pit-smoked baked beans and seasoned fries \u2014 yet), it is the Missouri side of the state line that reaped the rewards thanks to a film tax-incentive program<\/a> the Kansas side does not (yet) have. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn the hit show\u2019s premiere, which released on Wednesday, Ted (played by creator Jason Sudeikis<\/a>) visited the American Jazz Museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Gates Bar-B-Q and other local hotspots. All that those on the Kansas side could do is watch, despite the suburbs over there marking the actual hometown of the Ted Lasso creator and star.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne day ahead of the highly anticipated Ted Lasso return<\/a>, which also happened to be a local Election Day, The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas about the show. He wasn\u2019t in the hot seat in terms of his job, but we got a simmer going when asking about the best barbecue in his constituency.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tAs we speak, it\u2019s Election Day where you are. But is this your Election Day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThis is not. As mayor, there are about $1.7 billion of bonds and housing funds, and all of that I have on the ballot. But no, this is not my political survival. So unfortunately, I\u2019ve got to do that some other time.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat I\u2019m hearing is that I\u2019m the most important part of your day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBy far. People are asking [me], \u201cWhat the hell are you talking to The Hollywood Reporter about?\u201d [They\u2019ll have] to wait until the piece comes out.<\/p>\n

\n\tHave you seen the Ted Lasso season four premiere<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI have seen the premiere.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat are your thoughts on it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFirst of all, there\u2019s this thing about Ted Lasso that I love \u2014 it just builds this joy within you. If I can tell you a little secret \u2014 even though I\u2019m telling a reporter on the record \u2014 I don\u2019t actually have Apple TV. I really haven\u2019t watched Ted Lasso. I\u2019ve seen episodes here and there, but my wife and children\u2019s viewing habits are still more at the Ms. Rachel-era of television watching, so it just hasn\u2019t been on our list.<\/p>\n

\n\tI know and I\u2019ve met and I like Jason Sudeikis. I know the theme of the show and, obviously, its Kansas City presence. But I left impressed because, if you don\u2019t have a great understanding and think, \u201cAll right, I\u2019ve seen Ted Lasso,\u201d whether it\u2019s in ads or whatever else, \u201cI kind of know the whole shtick\u201d \u2014 it has this kind of way of roping you in. At the end of an episode, you are intrigued by the characters, you seem to know a decent amount about them, and you\u2019re smiling. Which, as somebody who\u2019s viewing habit last night was watching [The Bombing of Pan Am 103] on Netflix (smiling), it\u2019s just a lot better and I think that\u2019s part of its success.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you suggesting, Mr. Mayor, that three hours of Ms. Rachel doesn\u2019t leave you smiling?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) The sad thing is that my kids love the repeats, so I can sing the hell out of \u201cBingo, Was His Name-o.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHow old are your kids?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, and just as the 5-year-old transitioned maybe a year ago over to Paw Patrol, the 2-year-old is like, \u201cWait, what is this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPaw Patrol can be tough too, but soon you\u2019ll get to the Bluey phase \u2014 Bluey is like Ted Lasso for kids both in terms of its niceness and its quality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI cannot wait. My mother raised me \u2014 probably why I\u2019m in this business now. I had to watch Meet the Press press and stuff. [I said to my wife,] \u201cWhy don\u2019t we just make this kid a total nerd like me, and they\u2019ll be mayor in no time?\u201d I\u2019ve lost that battle so far.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHannah Waddingham with Juno Temple in Ted Lasso season four.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you know before any of us that Ted Lasso was returning because of permits and things like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOh man, our film commissioner will be mad at me, but yes, I did. There are both other things going on every day in a city like mine and larger ones, but I think I was aware. And you know, I\u2019ll be honest, I think I probably thought, \u201cOh, that\u2019s cool.\u201d I had no idea what exactly the impact will be. You hear from your city film commissioner, and you\u2019re like, \u201cI look forward to learning more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHow well does the character of Ted represent \u201cMidwestern Nice\u201d to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe first thing that Ted Lasso gets right is this familiarity among the residents. In Kansas City, you can be in the most posh establishment, and you actually still do have people wearing Kansas City sports gear, whether it be Missouri or Kansas, the Chiefs or Royals. And there is this other part, which is the sheer friendliness.<\/p>\n

\n\tI went to college in the Midwest, but I attended law school at Cornell University [in Ithaca, New York] and, this is no knock on my alma mater, but I was like, \u201cPeople don\u2019t just say \u2018Hi\u2019 when you pass them.\u201d My mother was probably like, \u201cYou\u2019re so dumb, I should have gotten you out more.\u201d I would call home, and I was just expecting that \u2014 it really does happen. To the extent someone doesn\u2019t acknowledge you, it\u2019s a bit strange. We\u2019re not a small town where people become your best friends and have your life story and are nosy. But it really is this transcending of economic class, race, part of city, all of that. You get this really positive, almost uplifting community vibe. It was part of why I came back to Middle America.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the running jokes of the Ted Lasso season four premiere is the tourists \u2014 Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), Keely (Juno Temple) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift)<\/a> \u2014 never know which Kansas City they\u2019re in. How true to life is that for your visitors?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYou do get a lot of people \u2014 and we got to test it for the World Cup just a few weeks ago. The smallest American city with World Cup matches. It\u2019s nice. I\u2019m far from famous, but Argentina Instagram kind of adopted me on TikTok. They\u2019re like, \u201cEl alcalde es Argentino,\u201d meaning, \u201cThe mayor is Argentine,\u201d and the number of people that were like, \u201cIt\u2019s the mayor of Kansas!\u201d Ironically, I\u2019m Kansas City, Missouri. Nonetheless, you get a blank slate every time somebody comes because the number of tourists \u2014 not just from the World Cup, but even other tourists \u2014 know absolutely nothing about where we\u2019re from. It\u2019s interesting they\u2019re even here, but you love that. Every time you get a chance to teach them about who we are and what we\u2019re about, I find that rewarding.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filming was pretty much all on your side of State Line Road, correct?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMost of the things they stopped through were in Kansas City, Missouri, if I remember the episode \u2014 the American Jazz Museum, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The reason I know I\u2019m right about that is because the state incentive. I believe all filming was in Missouri because of the state film incentive that exists that Kansas does not have, which is interesting because Jason Sudeikis is from the Kansas suburbs, which is kind of an interesting wrinkle.<\/p>\n

\n\tBetween Ted Lasso and the World Cup, your tourism board barely needs to do any work right now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIf you would ask me \u2014 and I would assume Jason, when he was a kid, since he\u2019s got a few years on me \u2014 if Kansas City would be the center of any type of national program [and it would] also be based on soccer, I\u2019d be like, \u201cHuh?\u201d Like, 1990s me would be like, \u201cWho did what? What you talking about, man?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLet me just interject \u2014 \u201c1990s you\u201d would have an awesome<\/strong> Chiefs Starter jacket<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tGod, yes. And by the way, I am still so angry because I had one like every other kid did. Why did we get rid of all of those?<\/p>\n

\n\tBecause our parents were dumb. Same deal with how we treated our baseball cards.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRight? I don\u2019t just see [this moment] as sheer serendipity. I actually see it as community and hard work coming together. I give credit to our creative community and high schools in this region raising this interesting set of people in Jason Sudeikis and Paul Rudd<\/a> and David Koechner and Eric Stonestreet, who are not far apart in age and have gone on not only to do wonderful things, but have this commitment to their hometown in a way that is different than with others.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think the community, and a lot of smart Midwestern and Southern cities, probably saw the Georgia narrative of a decade to 15 years ago, and saw that film and media is an important potential growth industry. [We also see] the nexus between investment and incentives toward film and media broadly, and how you grow the brand of your city. There are big American cities that are really neat for a lot of things, but for example \u2014 I\u2019m an attorney by training. I usually get to New York for business, and what\u2019s always interesting to me is how New York, really at its core as an economic factor, tourism is such a big part. Whereas I was going there to meet with somebody at a law firm, and I feel like we\u2019re an infinitesimal part of what keeps the city going.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhereas largely it\u2019s foreign tourists taking pictures, like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s cool. Buildings are tall, and there are a lot of them.\u201d We\u2019re not necessarily that, nor do we necessarily wish to be, but I think what we have done responsibly, and what Ted Lasso and the World Cup helps us secure, is a reason to be there. A reason to get this good slice of affordable Americana.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou really do have some gems, celebrity-wise, representing the area.<\/strong> Paul Rudd is a wonderful guy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOh, he\u2019s great. If I can just tell you probably more than you want \u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI met Paul Rudd at the Super Bowl as the mayor. When you\u2019re mayor, you\u2019re lame, kind of, and you\u2019re in a suit. I ended up at this taco bar beside a Chiefs Super Bowl celebration with Paul Rudd and his son. And we\u2019re just, like, hanging out, no pretension at all. He was like, \u201cOh, Mr. Mayor, great to meet you.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWho the hell am I? I\u2019m a temporary officeholder, and I still remember you from Clueless.\u201d He was great, and same thing with Jason \u2026 couldn\u2019t have been kinder. Couldn\u2019t have been better. He had time for everybody, enough connection for everybody, and I think he left feeling like, \u201cI\u2019m loved in a community and a place.\u201d That more than anything is what I would argue sometimes it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Chiefs have been in five Super Bowls and I\u2019ve been around too many famous people, and I ended up kind of in the aura of J.Lo \u2014 I obviously couldn\u2019t even talk to her \u2014 but you saw the crowd, whoever she was with at that point, I don\u2019t even remember. But it just being this thing of like real distance. Meanwhile, Paul Rudd\u2019s walking around as if he still feels like he was lucky to get tickets.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas onstage during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVII victory parade in 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve got another pretty famous singer\/sudden Chiefs superfan. Did you attend the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift wedding on our fair coast?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMan, I did not make it. Nope. I met the couple \u2014 obviously, I know Travis Kelce better. No, the mayor did not make the cut. I was going to call [New York City] Mayor Mamdani, see if he could just get me in working security, but no such luck.<\/p>\n

\n\tI will say this about her though, briefly. I ended up on the field next to them when they embraced after the Super Bowl we won, and I got a little video. I posted it and left it up for like eight minutes. There were too many people, too many things \u2014 like her super fans, there\u2019s also this crowd of total non-superfans who just hop on things. That has been a phenomenon to itself. I remember it slightly from my youth, seeing Michael Jackson mobbed when he went places. In a city where famous people can usually just exist, as happened in the World Cup, Taylor Swift still largely can\u2019t. It\u2019s really interesting seeing the world that she exists in.<\/p>\n

\n\tOK, let me pester you with a question every outsider probably asks you: What\u2019s the best barbecue spot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) You know that Ted Lasso, and really Jason Sudeikis, have created this trend in Kansas City where you wear a barbecue T-shirt with all of [the four big BBQ restaurants] on it. It says, like, \u201cJoe Arthur KC Gate Stack\u201d<\/a> because there\u2019s Joe\u2019s [Kansas City Bar-B-Q], Arthur Bryant\u2019s [Barbecue], Gates [Bar-B-Q] and Jack Stack Barbecue.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show films that first episode at Gates Bar-B-Q. That\u2019s where I make it to the most, primarily because I live closest to it. That being said \u2014 I ain\u2019t gonna answer! Who\u2019s your favorite kid, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tI could probably answer that today, actually.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) I hear that from people! Like, \u201cNo that\u2019s very simple!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo no real answer on it, although I go to Gates a lot, but the better answer from a politician-type is: What are you getting at each? Better ribs at one place, better fries at another. I won\u2019t bore you with that other than to note they\u2019ve done it right on Ted Lasso<\/a> in balancing a little bit of all of them, as well as the spill on one\u2019s clothing being a part of when you get way into your barbecue.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmerican football is back the day after the Ted Lasso season four premiere. You must be excited, you guys are building a new stadium \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, yeah. There is a lot going on in Kansas City: new stadiums for football and baseball. Now we want a Women\u2019s World Cup. And I\u2019m sure Taylor Swift will be around a little bit. I\u2019ll tell her you said hi.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tTed Lasso returned with season four Wednesday on Apple TV, releasing new episodes weekly. Read The Hollywood Reporter\u2018s cover story on the show\u2019s return.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ted Lasso is back on Apple TV, and Ted Lasso is back in Kansas City. He\u2019s not there…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":983371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[239,171,55761,18818,33099,12359,173,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-983370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-apple","tag-entertainment","tag-jason-sudeikis","tag-kansas-city","tag-paul-rudd","tag-ted-lasso","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117045635968621096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}