When creators of “Ted Lasso” decided to return after a two-year hiatus, they could have taken the easy route.With a release date set on the heels of the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup, America’s favorite soccer coach could have returned to AFC Richmond to reclaim the helm of the (fictional) club’s men’s team, now competing in the Premier League.Reunited with Coach Beard, they could have faced a fresh set of challenges alongside the familiar characters who turned the Apple TV series into a global phenomenon and delivered his signature pink box of shortbread biscuits to Richmond owner Rebecca Welton’s desk, carrying on with business as usual.Instead, the show’s latest season, which premieres on Apple TV on Aug. 5, took the series in a different direction.Season 4 follows AFC Richmond’s women’s team as it chases promotion from England’s second division, anchoring one of television’s most beloved comedies in the fastest-growing sector of the world’s most popular sport: women’s soccer.Season four of “Ted Lasso” centers around Richmond’s new women’s team. (Apple TV)National Women’s Soccer League fans will recognize the backdrop for the opening episode, which includes a game at CPKC Stadium, home of the Kansas City Current and the league’s first stadium built specifically for a professional women’s soccer club. The choice reflects not only the show’s new storyline but also the sport’s changing reality.“I first learned about the idea while watching the end of the last season,” Current’s majority owner Angie Long told The Athletic in an interview ahead of the season premiere. “They introduced a women’s team, and I remember thinking, ‘A women’s team? That’s interesting.’“Looking back, I’d like to think we were at least some small inspiration for how to do it right.”While “Ted Lasso” helped deepen Americans’ affection for soccer since its debut in 2020, interest in the women’s game has accelerated rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic.In the United States, NWSL franchise values continue to climb. Investors are pouring into the sport, and clubs are spending aggressively on talent. Across the pond, the Women’s Super League is experiencing a similar boom, with new ownership groups and minority investors buying into clubs in hopes of capitalizing on the game’s rapid commercial growth.“I think those of us in women’s sport know how much it has changed in the last five years,” Long explained. “I think for everyone else, they’re going to see the show and say, ‘Wow, it’s so legit!’”When the show’s producers came to Angie and her husband Chris Long, the connection was hardly accidental.The decision to begin Season 4 in Kansas City came from series co-creator Jason Sudeikis, a Kansas City native who has become a regular at Current matches.“He’s part of a group of Kansas City people in entertainment who genuinely love the city,” Angie Long said. “Way before we knew him, he was already a huge women’s sports fan.”Actor Jason Sudeikis attended last year’s quarterfinal match between the Kansas City Current and Gotham FC at CPKC Stadium. (Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)That affection ultimately shaped the upcoming season of one of television’s biggest franchises. Ted Lasso began as a character created by Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt (who plays Coach Beard) for improv sketches during their performances in Amsterdam in the early 2000s. A decade later, Lasso’s character became a viral advertisement campaign for NBC’s newly acquired English Premier League broadcast rights.The unflappable American football coach’s adventures in English football were a sensation and eventually debuted in 2020 as the “Ted Lasso” TV series, which went on to win 13 Emmy Awards.But perhaps the show’s biggest achievement was introducing many Americans to football culture and passion.Early in the first episode of Season 4, Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) walks into CPKC Stadium and pauses. She looks around, soaking in the atmosphere before turning to Welton (Hannah Waddingham) with a light bulb moment: Maybe AFC Richmond’s women’s team deserves a stadium of its own. For viewers, it is a throwaway line that advances the story of the new season, but for the Longs, that emotional response validated years of investment.“I think that was one of the best lines,” Chris Long said.But the awe was there even when cameras weren’t. During one of the visits to CPKC, the crew experienced the real NWSL atmosphere firsthand.“Juno said, ‘I cried when I walked in here,'” Chris Long recalled. “Not Keeley, the actual Juno Temple.“It makes us really proud to have created something that can evoke so much joy.”Temple’s response is what the Longs hope first-time visitors feel when they walk through the gates of their 11,500-seat stadium. They believe millions of viewers are about to experience that same feeling from their living rooms.CPKC Stadium was the first NWSL stadium built specifically for a women’s team and has already hosted the NWSL Championship. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)The Longs saw an opportunity to invest in women’s soccer after watching the U.S. women’s national team lift its fourth World Cup trophy in 2019. In December 2020, they joined forces with former professional soccer player Brittany Mahomes and her husband, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, to purchase the rights to the Utah Royals franchise and relocate it to Kansas City.FC Kansas City, one of the league’s original clubs, operated in the area until 2017. The new club, Kansas City NWSL, returned to the league in 2021 and rebranded as the Kansas City Current the following year.The Longs doubled down on their vision, privately financing the $120 million CPKC Stadium, which opened in 2024. The investment has paid off. On the pitch, the Current reached the playoffs twice and won the NWSL Shield last year, awarded to the team with the most regular-season points. Off the pitch, it is one of the NWSL’s highest-revenue clubs, generating an estimated $38 million annually, according to Forbes.“It’s more fuel to the fire,” Angie Long said. “People are going to watch (the first episode of ‘Ted Lasso’) and say, ‘Wow, what quality, what an experience!’ That’s exactly how we want people to talk about our game.”During production, both the crew and Longs were mutually impressed with what they experienced. By the Longs’ account, the cast quickly embraced the club and the city. Chris Long said it often felt as though the actors “weren’t working” and “fell in love with the Current.”“I feel like they’ve one-upped themselves because obviously they’re all massive fans of women’s sports,” Chris Long added, “but this really puts it up another level because of what ‘Ted Lasso’ is, which is an internationally acclaimed show with a diverse audience.”For the Longs, watching the world’s most popular soccer comedy transforming their stadium into a Hollywood set was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see behind the curtain.Filming offered a glimpse into the painstaking process behind television production. Days began around 7 a.m. with hair and makeup before the cast and extras spent hours on set surrounded by cameras, microphones and lighting equipment. Stand-ins rehearsed scenes while camera crews fine-tuned angles and blocking, allowing the principal actors to step in only when everything was ready.Angie Long recalled there were often long stretches of waiting between takes as directors reviewed footage before filming the same scene repeatedly.KC Current owners Angie and Chris Long hope people see the magic of their team through “Ted Lasso”. (Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)They even experienced the heartbreak of watching one of their scenes get cut.“There was another scene … which was us getting introduced to Rebecca as owners, and sadly didn’t make it,” Chris Long said. “That was our one day of being a Screen Actors Guild member.”Despite their cut scene, the couple features briefly behind the principal cast.“We had our day in the life of Hollywood,” Angie Long said. “And we’re good now.”Now, it’s time for “Ted Lasso” to pull back the curtain and give viewers a glimpse into the world of women’s soccer — or at least Hollywood’s version of it — for the next ten weeks. If it succeeds, it won’t just entertain; it could become a gateway for even more people to fall in love with the women’s game.“We’re coming off an incredible World Cup. We were especially proud that Kansas City was the No. 1 media market, something we’ve worked hard to build over time,” Chris Long said. “Now you’re putting this show right behind that. Then you’ve got the Women’s World Cup in Brazil not far away, followed by the Olympics.“It’s just one major event after another, and I can’t imagine people won’t embrace this sport in an even bigger way.”