Richmond groups want to bring “Ted Lasso” to town.
Yes, that “Ted Lasso,” the Apple TV+ show about a loveable and sometimes laughable American football coach played Jason Sudeikis who coaches an English soccer team named AFC Richmond.
The 288 Group, a Richmond-based marketing group, along with the Richmond Kickers, the Virginia Film Office, Richmond Region Tourism and Virginia Tourism Corporation has pitched Apple TV to bring the fictional AFC Richmond football club of “Ted Lasso” to life in Richmond, Va.
“We invite the cast/crew of ‘Ted Lasso’ to Richmond, Va. to turn the fictional AFC Richmond football club into reality,” Brian Edmonds with the 288 Group said via email. “We propose an exhibition match featuring Richmond Kickers’ players blended with personalities from the show to bring The Greyhounds [the fictional team on ‘Ted Lasso’] to life.”
To generate excitement for the idea, the groups created a video highlighting the connection between London’s Richmond Upon Thames and Richmond, Va.
The video was created by a group of Richmond collaborators led by Ryan Trapp from LiveWire LLC and Jon Laaser, formerly the Flying Squirrels broadcaster.
“’Ted Lasso,’ the show, really resonated with my family. We spend a lot of weekends on the soccer field, and the show provided a bunch of laughs and became a ‘must-watch’ for us on Sunday evenings,” Edmonds said.
“The idea originated many months ago – sometime during the first season of the show. The love that the locals of Richmond Upon Thames have for the Greyhounds and AFC Richmond felt familiar to the love we have for the Kickers and our youth teams. And when you think about how to bring the magic of Ted Lasso to real life, there’s no better location that Richmond, Va.,” Edmonds added.
The Richmond, Va.-groups are hoping the video will generate awareness and support of the idea to help Apple review and consider the concept.
The video will go live on the Richmond Kickers YouTube page at noon today. But first, you can watch a sneak peek here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCzey0VxIn8
