'Ted Lasso' pays over $650,000 for rights to use UK football logos, trophy

Apple TV+ hit comedy "Ted Lasso" is set in a UK football club, and Apple has had to pay the country's Premiere League heavily for the rights to do that.

AFC Richmond is a fictional football team in "Ted Lasso," but everything about it is as accurate as it can be. So the team competes in the UK's Championship League, it regularly refers to genuine competitors — and the show has even had to send biscuits to those real teams.

Now it's been revealed that the cost of getting the rights to this authenticity was around 500,000 — or $677,150.85. According to The Atlantic, that's what Apple TV+ and the makers of the show have had to pay the UK's Premier League.

The structure of the deal is not known, but it's unlikely to come with any time constraints. "Ted Lasso" is still expected to conclude with a third season, but Apple will presumably want to keep it available on Apple TV+ forever, so the rights are likely to be a one-time buy-out rather than a repeating royalty.

Whatever the format of the payment, what it gives "Ted Lasso" is comprehensive permission to use UK football designs and paraphernalia. This is how the series is able to use archive footage when it chooses, plus adopt the league's actual logos, and club kits.

Reportedly, the series also has the rights to use the League trophy.

8 Comments

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

About 3 years ago

AppleInsider said:

Reportedly, the series also has the rights to use the League trophy.

So this suggests that Ted's team will actually win the trophy in the final season, sweeping the Premiere League as they just swept the Emmys.

holmstockd 84 comments · 13 Years

I know my opinion is not going to be popular, buy IMO this season was stupid, it jumped the shark for me on Beards night out, Sams relationship with his boss, etc. I am done. Maybe I will be back for season 3, but this is nothing magical as season 1 was.

- Edit - Spelling

xbit 399 comments · 9 Years

I wonder how much they paid Gary Lineker? ;)

MacPro 19838 comments · 18 Years

holmstockd said:

I know my opinion is not going to be popular, buy IMO this season was stupid, it jumped the shark for me on Beards night out, Sams relationship with his boss, etc. I am done. Maybe I will be back for season 3, but this is nothing magical as season 1 was.

- Edit - Spelling

I love both seasons' shows so far, but I agree on the 'Beard's night out' episode. I thought that was dreadful. Along with the three morons in the pub, his character has always seemed like a waste of space to me.

george kaplan 169 comments · 16 Years

In defense of Ted Lasso Season 2:

Apple ordered 2 more episodes for Season 2, and the challenge was to create two episodes which didn’t alter or complicate the timeline established by the interconnected 10 episodes which had been written and largely shot.

The first of the 2 extras was the Christmas episode, which plays off the tradition of many British TV shows to create standalone Christmas shows.

The second of the “extra” shows was “Beard After Hours”. The story was a homage to the mid-80s Scorsese film, “After Hours”. Like the episode of “Lasso”, the film covers a single late-night of a young man, who is working through personal crisis, and finds himself in a series of weirder and weirder situations as he tries to go home.

I confess I liked the show’s ability to lean into the surrealistic, shaggy-dog story, but I recognize also it was kind of a limited edition episode, which—by design—didn’t add anything to the season storyline.