How the Negro Leagues Museum got a starring role in 'Ted Lasso'

There are, unfortunately, many similarities between how Black athletes were treated in both Major League Baseball and English soccer in the early part of the 20th century.

Like in baseball, there wasn't an official rule, but a kind of "gentlemen's agreement" that Black players couldn't participate in the top soccer league in England. There were outliers, like Arthur Wharton in the 1800s and Walter Tull in the early 1900s, but there wasn't really full-on integration until the 1950s and '60s. There were even all-Black teams -- reminiscent of the Negro Leagues -- that were formed in response to the racism and mistreatment by fans and teammates.

So, it makes perfect sense that "Ted Lasso" -- a show about soccer that also tackles important societal issues -- would do an episode at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

"The storyline was very interesting," Bob Kendrick, museum president, told me in a recent Zoom. "They were looking at the history of the Negro Leagues and comparing it to the history of soccer. It forms a tremendous kind of odd, but interesting parallel."

It also helps, of course, that the star of the show, Jason Sudeikis, was raised in the suburbs of Kansas City.

He's a huge Royals fan (he can kind of, sometimes make contact off big league pitchers), he has an appreciation for the history of baseball in K.C. and he has a great relationship with Bob Kendrick. Kendrick met the star actor at a city holiday gathering in 2022. He knew Sudeikis was a big baseball fan and history aficionado, and right away Kendrick could tell that the Emmy-winning actor had an interest in how Kansas City became the mecca of Black baseball in America. He wanted to learn, read, see more about it.

"I had met him, really for the first time, a couple years ago when we were doing the Plaza lighting ceremony," Kendrick said. "I got a chance to spend a little time with him and talk about what we do here at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. We kind of hit if off. You see him now representing the Kansas City Monarchs. Wearing his Monarchs gear proudly. His hoodie on, he's got his Monarchs cap on because he's repping his city, but he's also helping represent how the heritage of this game essentially started in his hometown."

Sudeikis seemingly always had an idea to do an episode or two of "Ted Lasso" in Kansas City -- he's even talked about how the character was inspired by his Midwest upbringing. And after spending time with Kendrick, he knew he had to include K.C.'s museum in a big way.

"Yeah, when he came up with this idea to kind of put a focus on his hometown of Kansas City, he included the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum," Kendrick said. "That was tremendous. We were very excited to shut the place down so they could do the filming here."

Sudeikis' family came down to spend time in Kansas City and Kendrick even got a full-on football experience with Sudeikis, Coach Beard and the rest of the cast of the most famous soccer show going.

"It just happened to be when the English women's soccer team was playing in a big match," Kendrick said. "I don't know a whole lot about soccer, but I'm sitting down watching the soccer match with them and they were all very much into it. Hell, then I started to get into it. And England wins the game in a shootout. It was a great experience."

There were also extremely normal fan selfies capturing the AFC Richmond manager strolling around the Museum.

Although he was asked, Kendrick doesn't make a cameo in the show (he had a big brace on his leg from knee surgery and didn't think hopping around on set would look too great), but he is looking forward to seeing how the episode or episodes featuring his museum turn out in 2026. It's a city -- and national -- landmark that he's worked hard to put on the map over the last decade. And having a hometown star like Sudeikis feature it on an internationally renowned show can only increase that awareness. It's a crucial period of time in baseball, and American, history.

"It's a natural boost to the organization," Kendrick told me. "It's going to introduce the museum to a lot of people who are fans of his show, but likely who have never heard of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I dare believe that it'll entice a lot of folks to make the trek out to Kansas City to experience it. Any time that you can establish a platform that shines a bright light on the work that we're doing, we're always excited about it. And to have one of your own tout why this place is so important, and to see fit that it's written into the script, man, it's just so special."