Best of KC 2025: We were all super-normal about Ted Lasso coming home

Photo by Tarik Sykes

Earlier this month, we published The Pitch’s annual Best of Kansas City issue. You can take a peek at the results of the readers’ poll here. The issue also included a list, compiled and written by our editorial staff, of some local people, places, and things that we thought clearly won 2025. We’ll be publishing these items online throughout November.

Three seasons in, Ted Lasso was set to call it a day. Apple TV+ wasn’t about to let that cash cow out to pasture, and word began seeping in that the show was headed to KC to film for a new season. That wave of excitement quickly hit a few blunders, especially as a company online seeking extras to hire for the show was revealed to be a scam. Big yikes, but we’re glad that everyone seemed to emerge from that unscathed. 

When the show properly arrived, it was a bit of a shock, especially to our publication, as the film crew posted up outside (and eventually inside) The Pitch offices. It made for a helluva week, and we’re always happy to have Jason Sudeikis in our orbit. Did we hide some of our Ted Lasso posters on display in the office? I mean. We didn’t want to make it weird. 

And that’s perhaps our favorite part of the whole experience: KC went out of its way, literally, to not make it weird. With some Plaza streets shut down, most folks seemed to merely adjust their daily transit routes. We think that plenty of Midwestern cities would’ve wound up flooding a Hollywood shoot, with folks lurking and gawking, being a little too starstruck. 

Nope. KC went on about its day. We as a publication found that, collectively, a pretty good sign of becoming the kind of major city that sets us apart from our peers. Look at us, being cool and chill with celebrities, and not making it weird. We haven’t really said it out loud before this issue, but like, good on y’all.

Click below to read the November Best Of 2025 Issue of The Pitch Magazine: