Lance, ESPN’s two-part Lance Armstrong 30 for 30, will follow in the footsteps of The Last Dance in at least one way.
In addition to airing uncensored on ESPN, an edited version with censored profanity will air on ESPN2 at the same time.
A month ago, ESPN announced they were doing this with The Last Dance, though most viewers stuck with the uncensored version on ESPN. For example, over the final two episodes this week, nearly 85% of the live watches of the doc came for the ESPN broadcast.
But with no live sports airing on Sunday nights for at least the two weekends of Lance, it doesn’t hurt to air the censored version on ESPN2. The viewership for that broadcast will likely trump anything that the network could have aired in the window instead of the doc, so why not?
Last week, ESPN released the first trailer for Lance. The film is directed by Marina Zenovich, and part one premieres on Sunday, May 24th at 9 PM on both ESPN and ESPN2. Part two premieres a week later on Sunday, May 31st, also at 9 PM on ESPN and ESPN2.
