Why Ted Lasso isnt the massive hit in the U.K. that it is in the U.S.

When NBC gained the Premier League’s U.S. broadcast rights in 2013, you could forgive the broadcaster for using familiar American soccer tropes to ensure the $250 million deal did not fall flat.

With the deal came the character of Ted Lasso, who debuted in commercials advertising the league’s arrival on the network. The gridiron football coach, played by Jason Sudeikis, was hired as the new head coach of “the Tottenham Hotspurs” in an era when Brits had little respect for American involvement in football. 

Despite being only a few years removed from the USMNT “winning” 1-1 against England in the 2010 World Cup, America had not staked its claim in the global footballing world. So in 2016, when Bob Bradley became the first (real life) head coach from the States in the Premier League and got fired three months later — the second shortest stint of any manager in the Premier League era at the time — the Ted Lasso caricature of a fish out of water felt, at best, justifiable.

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In the U.K., the stereotype was reinforced with “Brad Bobley,” on the Saturday morning football panel and sketch show, Soccer AM, where one of the hosts adopted an American accent and put on awful training sessions for a squad of actors. Lasso, at the time, was in line with the British stigma towards Americans in football, but served as a route for the broader U.S. market to learn more about the beautiful game.

Assisted by the gentle hand of NBC’s informative coverage, the Premier League has grown exponentially in the States over the past 20 years. In 2022, England’s top flight announced a new six-year rights deal with NBC worth $2.7 billion. The increase in American eyes on football certainly hasn’t been hindered by those early Ted Lasso commercials, which proved a big hit, and its Apple TV+ adaptation, which has become a cultural phenomenon in the US.

Season one of the series aired in the summer of 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It won a Peabody award for “offering the perfect counter to the enduring prevalence of toxic masculinity, both on-screen and off, in a moment when the nation truly needs inspiring models of kindness.” Despite its deviation from the utterly ridiculous as depicted in the NBC commercials to the often astute and valuable commentary on the uncomfortable direction of English football, Ted Lasso has yet to hit across the pond.

At its heart, the show is less about football and more about relationships, friendship and camaraderie. Throughout its first two seasons, fans have grown closer to the characters as they deal with personal and professional issues, from Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernandez) overcoming a case of the “yips” to Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) — a character based on Manchester United legend Roy Keane — navigating the insecurities of a footballer post-retirement. 

The second season also effectively explores the uncomfortable reality in European football regarding ownership and sponsorship deals, with global organizations worth trillions of dollars and their objectionable practices sponsoring football clubs in the spotlight. In the show, Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) refused to promote the fictional airline, ‘Dubai Air,’ after his father expressed disappointment in an advertisement campaign due to the airline’s relationship with the multinational petrochemical company ‘Cerithium Oil’ who, in the storyline, had devastated the land in Obisanya’s hometown in Nigeria. 

As a British viewer, these topics remain some of the most interesting explored on the show, because in real life the relationship between football and unsavory companies and owners is a discussion point that continues to escalate. In 2013, former Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse refused to wear the club’s jersey so long as it continued to be sponsored by ‘Wonga.com’, a now-defunct payday loan company, a business that stands in opposition to the teachings of his Muslim faith. These days, Newcastle, Manchester City and French giants PSG and their alleged relationship with Qatar and Abu Dhabi dominate the modern-day discussion regarding whether states, particularly those with poor human rights records, should be allowed into the game to sanitize their reputations, known as sportswashing. 

But while Ted Lasso billboards decorate the skylines across New York City and Los Angeles, there is nothing more than a niche audience in the United Kingdom, even though social commentary involving football remains the easiest way to capture the cultural zeitgeist — just ask the producers of BBC’s Match of the Day, where presenter Gary Lineker often uses the show and his personal platforms to highlight social injustices, after last week’s debacle.

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According to data from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), the U.K.’s television audience measurement organization, Ted Lasso has never cracked the top 50 shows in the country. For context, Love Island frequently ranks among the most popular shows in the U.K., as did U.S. comedy shows Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl when still airing new episodes. Despite their stiff-upper-lip reputation, the British public appreciates lighthearted humor as much as their American cousins. So why is Ted Lasso not hitting?

Most clearly, the British public has yet to throw themselves into streaming channels like Americans. Traditional cable TV is in 56% of British households, while Free TV (more than 70 channels and 15 radio stations available at no cost to anyone with a TV license) make up the rest. Streaming services complement television subscriptions, with Netflix in 52% of homes and Amazon Prime Video, NOW TV (a Sky streaming service), and Disney+ continuing to make headway. Apple TV+’s following is comparatively tiny, with only 8.7% of homes (1.69 million) subscribing to the online streamer, dwarfed by Netflix (17.15m) and Prime Video (13.12m), according to data from BARB. Without the audience on Apple TV, Ted Lasso cannot replicate its stateside success in the U.K.

Beyond the issues surrounding access to the show, there’s also the matter of desire to watch — in a country that prides itself on football heritage and “proper” football fandom, a gleefully ignorant American taking charge of an English club and charming his way to acceptance while remaining woefully unqualified for his job is not something the old-school British football fan would go out of their way to seek out.

While Apple TV+’s target demographic is probably not the flag-bearing, Stella Artois-drinking, “resist modern football” brigade, there is a middle-ground where most British football fans sit between that and Ted Lasso. The success of American sitcoms across the pond demonstrates a significant market for inoffensive American humor, but Lasso strays too far into the ridiculous too often. 

The language used in the show might also contribute to the lack of support from the British public. In one of the first episodes of season one, Ted pledges, at his unveiling, to give his all for Richmond AFC, “win or lose”, to which a reporter in attendance at the press conference replies: “Or tie.” 

“It’s a draw, not a tie,” miserable Brits tuning into the first season at the height of the pandemic groaned at the television. For many football fans across the pond, who often get frustrated by the Amerification of the English-language football lexicon, hearing British voices refer to “ties” and “rosters” might have been enough to lose a subscriber, with Apple TV in its infancy, forever — even if the changes were made to appeal to a larger American audience.

And it’s not just the football language that does not hit for a British audience. Watching English actors stroll through cobbled streets while referring to “parking lots” instead of “car parks” will never not be uncomfortably weird and unnecessary. American audiences understand that British lexicon is different, so in the interests of authenticity, fixing the language may help to cross the cultural divide. 

But seven years after Brits mocked Bradley for referencing “PKs” and “road games” in press conferences, the integration of America into the global football discussion has continued to grow. Jesse Marsch became the second American head coach in the Premier League after replacing Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United, and addressed the inevitable upcoming mockery and Ted Lasso references at his unveiling, warming him to the supporters.

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“I think there’s probably a stigma,” Marsch said, in reference to the British view on football in the States. “I’m not sure Ted Lasso helped. I haven’t watched the show, but I get it. People hate hearing the word soccer. I’ve used the word football since I was a professional football player. I think more and more the States is adapting to what the game is in England and our connection with what this league is and what the culture of this sport is in this country.”  

While he was fired less than a year into his tenure, he was immediately in discussion for another Premier League job at Southampton, reflecting the respect he earned on the touchline at Elland Road. English football fans are now acutely aware of the growth of men’s football in the States, with over half of the USMNT World Cup squad having played in England at some point in their career and a growing number of Premier League clubs, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have Americans among their owners.

As Americans become more and more common in English football, you might think it would only help the appeal of a show like Ted Lasso in the U.K. But certain elements beyond occasional word choices might be a bridge too far for British viewers. For example, the decision to appoint Lasso was addressed in the first season, but there appeared to be no backlash from the supporters as AFC Richmond suffered relegation from the Premier League into the Championship. Irrespective of the smiles accompanying Lasso’s happy-go-lucky, glass-half-full outlook on life, football is about winning matches. While suspension of disbelief is required for any comedy show, there is no reality where a recently relegated team could go on a seven-match “tie” streak and the manager not come under serious pressure from the supporters. Just ask Dean Smith, who, after suffering relegation with Norwich City, was sacked with the club fifth in the Championship and in the play-off places. For context, Smith led Norwich to a six-match winning streak three months before he was handed his marching orders. 

The circumstances in which owner Rebecca Welton, played by Hannah Waddingham, acquires the club are ridiculous, but there is also no conceivable reality where fans of an English football club would allow an intentional collapse of the club’s fortunes to occur. Supporters of the Premier League’s “big six” clubs, for example, protested against the proposal of a breakaway European Super League in April 2021 involving the 12 largest clubs on the continent. Chelsea’s Supporters Trust described it as “the ultimate betrayal” and a decision that had been made “with no consideration for the loyal supporters, our history, our future or the future of football in this country.” Due to the fervent display of discontent, these clubs pulled out within 48 hours and plans were shelved indefinitely. 

Yes, Richmond AFC won promotion in season two, but it would never have gotten that far. 

It’s obvious Ted Lasso’s main focus is not the British audience, and the show remains one of the most popular series in the US, having achieved something the sport itself has not done yet: bringing football to the masses. Perhaps without the seemingly unnecessary dose of American English to appease its native audience, it would not have been such a success, but, in the interests of authenticity, the series can do more to bring itself in line with the growth of the sport in the States. 

It’s often the case for British television and music that true success is measured by whether it can crack the American market, but that’s not necessarily true for an American show in Britain, even if it is about English football.

 (Photo: AppleTV+)

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