The Last Dance might only have two weeks left, but ESPN Films will continue to fill the sports void when it’s over, announcing early premieres for three new documentaries spanning four Sundays. 30 for 30‘s LANCE, Be Water and Long Gone Summer are all set to debut in consecutive weeks once the Bulls’ docuseries is finished.
ESPN appeased fans with an early release of The Last Dance, and it’s so far been very successful with record-breaking audience numbers. Now the network hopes to do the same with three more documentaries that will air prior to their originally planned releases.
LANCE will occupy two Sundays, May 24 and 31, featuring Lance Armstrong, who was both one of the most inspiring and disgraced athletes in the history of American sports. After LANCE, ESPN will debut Be Water on June 7, providing a personal look at the life of martial arts icon Bruce Lee.
Lastly, Long Gone Summer will premiere June 14, chronicling the 1998 home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, which helped popularize Major League Baseball again, following their strike in ’94. For Chicago sports fans, it’s the second documentary featuring a local superstar from the ’98 sports year. But while Michael Jordan and the ’98 Bulls remain invariably loved throughout Chicago, Sosa’s ’98 season lost some luster because of his PED usage.
Although ESPN had to hurry the completion of The Last Dance, as fans clamored for its early release after sports were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, similar efforts won’t be necessary for these next three docs. LANCE and Be Water both aired at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, while Long Gone Summer was selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival supposed to take place in April, but was postponed by the pandemic.