Ted Lasso Made Everyone Search Kansas City. Not for the Reason Tourism Officials Hoped

I’m filing this one under “PR Fantasies.”The long-awaited fourth season of the Apple TV+ hit Ted Lasso dropped last week, and the opening episode found Ted (played by Jason Sudeikis), back in Kansas City, seemingly adrift. Viewers also apparently searched for “Ted Lasso Kansas City” 600% more than they did the previous week. Tourism promoters certainly hoped the scenes at major Kansas City landmarks like CPKC Stadium, Gates Bar-B-Q, and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum would spur visitor interest in the city, and by the end of the week, I had an e-mail from a major travel brand about the spike in searches. Travel brands and destination promoters have good reason to be optimistic about Ted Lasso’s Kansas City shoot. The Richmond-upon-Thames suburb of London where scenes from the first three seasons were frequently shot has become something of a tourist attraction unto itself, as set-jetting fans include the spot among Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace on their London tour itineraries. But viewers searching and scrolling “Ted Lasso Kansas City” on their couches while watching the show doesn’t necessarily demonstrate travel intent, and that’s borne out in the rest of the data. Curious, I dropped into Google Trends to find out the rest of the story, and I found that a lot of the search volumes that spiked right alongside “Ted Lasso Kansas City” appeared to be follow-ups, specifying the song “Kansas City” by The New Basement Tapes that played over the opening of the first episode. Continue Reading Article After Our Video Recommended Fodor’s Video Travel-related searches for Kansas City revealed a different story. Searches for “Kansas City MO” were down 10% last week. “Hotel Kansas City” was down 6% and “Flights to Kansas City” were also down 10%, suggesting the show hasn’t (yet) boosted travel searches for the city. By August 10, “Ted Lasso” and “Ted Lasso Kansas City” searches had grown since I got the e-mail, now sitting at 2,200% higher than last week. Other travel-related searches that fell in the single digits included “Kansas City Airport,” “Kansas City Hotels,” and “Things to Do in Kansas City. Suggesting that the Kansas City searches were song-related, searches for “Kansas City Song” were up 300% and “Going Back to Kansas City,” a lyric from the song, were up 2,450%. So, it’s less likely that Ted Lasso fans are immediately interested in booking Kansas City getaways, but they do appear to be interested in at least listening to songs about Kansas City (and the song in question is a catchy tune sung by Marcus Mumford, who, in Ted Lassoan twist of fate, happens to be British). On my own, I can say, however, that having been to Kansas City earlier this year, there are plenty of reasons outside of Ted Lasso to go visit. They’ve gotten rid of their horrid old mid-century concrete airport terminal with spotty HVAC and tiny bathrooms, and replaced it with a gorgeous new one, and the burnt ends at Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue are pretty habit-forming. The downtown core is pleasantly walkable, and for those that don’t care to walk, the streetcars are free, so the trip from my room at the gorgeous, vintage 1926 Art Deco Hilton President to Kansas City’s Union Station was quick and easy. Not only is the station an Amtrak terminus, it’s also a sort of museum-slash-shopping mall-slash-food hall, complete with a planetarium and live theatre. It’s also across the street from the fascinating National World War I Museum and Memorial. So absolutely yes, you should go to Kansas City—but not because it looked good in a Ted Lasso montage with a catchy soundtrack (which is now stuck in my head). Go because there’s actually cool stuff there. It stands on its own merit.