How Jason Sudeikis & ‘Ted Lasso’ made a T-shirt created by a JoCo teacher famous
Five years ago Johnson County math teacher Brendan Curran began designing and selling Kansas City-themed T-shirts as a side hustle.
One of them paid homage to the glory of Kansas City barbecue with this slogan: “Joearthur Gatestack.”
At first, he jokes, the only people who bought the T-shirt were people he knew. Then a famous childhood friend wore it on his new TV series and orders poured in to Curran’s fledgling clothing brand.
The friend was Jason Sudeikis, creator and star of “Ted Lasso.”
Sudeikis, who grew up in Overland Park, wore the shirt at least a couple of times on the show, including in the 2020 pilot.
“Once it showed up on ‘Ted Lasso’ it took off,” Curran said. “The ‘Ted Lasso’ years were good years. It was a very good side hustle while ‘Ted Lasso’ was streaming, so I’m pretty excited for it to start going again.”
Will a Season 4 of “Ted Lasso” bring another lightning strike?
After a lot of speculation and begging from “Ted Lasso” fans, a new season of the Emmy-winning juggernaut is forthcoming, with filming taking place in the Kansas City area over the coming days.
Homeowners in a Blue Springs neighborhood have been notified that film crews will be in their area next week. And Lee’s Summit has approved the show’s application for a special event permit there, according to city officials.
To this day the Joearthur Gatestack shirt remains the most popular design for Curran’s Three KC company. Curran also put the slogan on a trucker hat he’s currently improving. Sudeikis has worn that in public, too.
“After that I reached out to a few shops and said, ‘Hey, Sudeikis just wore this hat, anybody interested?’ And got enough interest that I was like, you know what, I’m going to make this a little nicer and put a patch on it,” Curran said. “So hopefully we’ll see how it goes. I’m excited about them.”
He and Sudeikis met in eighth grade when their basketball teams played each other, then played basketball together for two years at Shawnee Mission West High School.
They see each other frequently when Sudeikis comes to town. “Did go to Big Slick this year and he’s always gracious and brings me and a few other friends to the after party,” Curran said.
He knew months before it became public that Sudeikis planned to film some of Season 4 in Kansas City, but Curran is clearly a friend who can keep a secret.
“I was obviously super excited about that,” he said. “He’s always done such a good job of promoting Kansas City. For him to bring his show here for an episode is incredible.
“He’s always been good about trying to represent his city or his friends. It’s not surprising to me that he’s been so pro-Kansas City his whole career.”
A barbecue mash-up
After all these years, Curran would like to clarify something about that T-shirt.
“One misconception with the shirt is that a lot of people think that it was created for ‘Ted Lasso’ or that it was someone’s idea and I just started making T-shirts,” he said.
“I started selling that shirt a good year before the show came out.”
Curran is still teaching math — advanced placement (AP) statistics — at Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic high school in Overland Park. His wife, Casey, teaches there, too.
When he joined the staff he was asked if he’d also like to teach digital design. Though he didn’t have a background in graphic design he said yes. (He’s since given up the class because he’s busy doing social media posts for the school’s athletic department.)
“It was just something I was always interested in,” he said. “So now that I had these tools for the class, I started spending a lot of time just messing around with it. And as I’m exploring project ideas for my class I just started creating all these Kansas City (designs) because I’ve always loved design, whether it was with sneakers or looking at signs …
“I had Kansas City designs — as we know we all dress like tourists here — and I felt like I had enough that I thought were cool that maybe I could jump into those Kansas City T-shirts.”
He named his company Three KC to represent the “three kings of Kansas City” — barbecue, the Royals and the Chiefs.
Then Sudeikis said something at a Big Slick news conference that inspired the slogan that put his company on the map.
At the 2014 Big Slick, an interviewer asked Sudeikis, along with co-hosts Paul Rudd and Rob Riggle, to name their favorite barbecue places.
Sudeikis said: “Oklahoma Gates. Arthur Oklahoma Gates.”
“Arthur Oklahoma Gates Stack,” Rudd riffed.
“I thought that was funny and it kinda spawned from that,” Curran said. “And being a big Kansas City barbecue fan of course I was like well, the Mount Rushmore of Kansas City barbecue, you’ve got obviously Arthur Bryant’s and Gates and Joe’s, and Jack Stack’s in there, too.
“And that shirt’s not really just about those four, it’s really about all Kansas City barbecue because there are so many good ones.”
Of course he gave one of the shirts to Sudeikis — what are friends for? — and Sudeikis wore it to the Big Slick party in 2019.
“It was so great because I was sitting in the crowd and they all came out and he’s wearing the shirt,” said Curran. “And I heard someone behind me say ‘I think his shirt says Joe Arthur Gate Stack’ and she started laughing.
“And I just sat there. I didn’t turn around or say anything. I just sat there and I was like, ‘Aw, this is great. Here we go.’”
Then, Sudeikis texted him.
‘Ted Lasso’ calls
Sudeikis told him that somebody from the show would be contacting him about signing a waiver.
For what, Curran asked?
Sudeikis wanted to wear the Joearthur shirt on the show but Curran’s permission was needed.
“Then I was like, ‘do you need others?’” Curran said. “And when the show came out and he wore it on the very first episode, I was blown away. Once he wore it on ‘Ted Lasso’ sales came significantly.”
He got sales bumps when two prominent women wore the shirt, too. One was Jen Hatmaker, the New York Times bestselling author, podcaster and influencer who has more than 800,000 followers on Facebook alone. “It was nuts, the follows and sales I got just from her wearing it,” he said.
He got another boost when Oprah pal and best-selling therapist Brené Brown, an FC Liverpool fan by the way, wore the shirt, which Sudeikis gifted her.
”Joearthur Gatestack is always the most popular,” he said. “I do have a couple, actually several, just Kansas City general shirts. I’ve got a KC shield that I put a crown on. It’s the pylons on Bartle Hall. I just put that out this summer.
“I was wearing it yesterday and currently it’s one of my favorite shirts. I would love for that KC shield to become a thing.”
His T-shirts are widely available around town, at Made in KC locations, Bunker in Westport, The Best of Kansas City at Crown Center, Browne’s Irish Marketplace, Pink Dino boutique in Zona Rosa, as well as on the Three KC website.
He’s also designing World Cup shirts for when games come to Kansas City next summer. Experience has taught him to steer clear of possible trademark infringements.
“You do have to tiptoe,” he said. “I’m assuming you can’t use the words World Cup. I don’t know what the rules are specifically with the World Cup. But I am being mindful to not necessarily use specific terminology that could potentially get you into some trouble.”
“I’ve gotten a little practice with that because I designed Mitch Holthus shirts that are sold at Hy-Vee and I have to be very careful not to use specific language. I can’t use Chiefs Kingdom, can’t put Super Bowl on Super Bowl shirts. I’ve got a little practice with that.”
Curran is among the legions of “Ted Lasso” fans who had hoped for a Season 4. But with two kids in college — at Kansas State and the University of Nebraska — he’s also hoping interest in the Joearthur Gatestack merchandise picks up again.
“Honestly I hope it gives me another little bump in business because I’ve got a couple of kids in college so I could use some tuition money,” he laughed.
“I’ve just really enjoyed this. I love my day job as a teacher. I haven’t really looked at pivoting and just doing Three KC, at least not at this point. I’ve just been kind of open to see what opportunities bring me but I’m also pretty happy having it as a side hustle.”
He last saw Sudeikis a few months ago when he and Brendan Hunt — “Ted Lasso” co-creator, co-star, writer and producer — came to Kansas City to scout locations.
“I went and met them at their hotel and we’re just kind of hanging out at the hotel bar. It wasn’t busy. It was in the middle of the week,” he said. “A few people obviously wanted to come up and say hi to him or take a picture.
“It’s funny when people assume that I’m someone famous, too. And I’m like, I’m a math teacher.”
So is he going to take part in any of the “Ted Lasso” filming here next week?
“At this point, not that I’m aware of,” Curran laughed. “I have offered my availability.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2025 at 1:40 PM.
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