Chris “The Bear” Fallica will be launching a new digital gambling show and podcast series for FOX Sports, Barrett Sports Media has learned, continuing his indomitable presence on the podcast airwaves. The new property, titled Bear Bets: A FOX Sports Gambling Podcast, will release two episodes per week centered on college football and the National Football League, respectively. Fallica will bring his pristine college football intel to listeners in his new project following his collaboration with “Stanford” Steve Coughlin on their podcast. Coughlin was recently added to College GameDay on ESPN, while Fallica is now a member of Big Noon Kickoff for FOX Sports.
“We had a very successful with ESPN and I think the biggest question I’ve gotten in the offseason is, ‘Are you still going to have a pod with FOX,’” Fallica said. “I’m looking forward to doing it a little bit differently here [and] in a viewable, digital fashion as well. I think that could certainly only help the viewer and the listener.”
“We’re excited to provide ‘Bear’ the space to share gambling insights and real-life, actual bets with fans,” Michael Bucklin, senior vice president of digital content at FOX Sports, added in a statement. “To us, that’s what makes ‘Bear’ so interesting – this isn’t for picks’ sake and this isn’t all chalk, but this is high-value bets ‘The Bear’ and his real-life gambling group chat friends are actually making.”
Fallica chose to leave ESPN at the end of last year, ending his time on College GameDay, on which he worked as a research producer. He had been with the program for over two decades and the network for 27 years, starting as a production assistant and tape operator on its radio operations. For the 2023 season and beyond, he will be competing with the heralded mainstay from the “Worldwide Leader.” The maneuver came together very quickly and cultivated a new chapter of his career as a waging insider for FOX Sports.
“Everything that has happened since I made the decision to leave has reaffirmed that I made the right decision,” Fallica said. “….Everybody at FOX has been fantastic – they’ve treated me like someone who has been there forever. I think one of the things that I noticed in the transition is that FOX Sports is smaller-scale and there aren’t as many employees, so you kind of do get to know everybody on a little bit more of a personal level.”
The show will include contributions from co-host Geoff Schwartz and sports betting analyst Sam Panayotovich, engaging in debates about the upcoming games through the betting lens. Aside from Thursday episodes, presented by Big Noon Kickoff, and Friday editions of the show, special versions will air surrounding other championship events.
After keeping statistics for a New York Knicks game on WFAN, Fallica landed an internship at WFAN where he acclimatized himself with the radio landscape. He was added to the ESPN roster as a researcher in 1996 following working in a similar role for the NCAA Tournament, and ultimately made it on College GameDay as a talent in 2013.
Since then, Fallica has been promulgating and disseminating his insight and expertise on college football and sports betting at large through various outlets, including his popular podcast with ESPN. Now with FOX Sports, he will continue that endeavor, albeit in a new form, and appear on Big Noon Kickoff.
“It kind of goes together,” Fallica said. “The prep for the pod is essentially the prep for the column that will be released each week and Big Noon.”
Through his time with FOX Sports thus far, Fallica has contributed to coverage of horse racing, including the Belmont Stakes, and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In this new chapter of his career, he looks forward to contributing to coverage outside of solely college football, although that will still be his primary focus. Fallica genuinely places all of the bets he shares with consumers and is fully invested in the action, recognizing the growing niche of the industry.
“I think the ability for people to know, ‘Hey, I’m actually betting these games myself,’ is a big deal,” Fallica said. “….I think the thing that I was most proud of on College GameDay was we were way ahead of the curve on this.”
The new program will make its debut on Thursday, Aug. 31 and commence its twice weekly format next week, aligning with the start of the NFL regular season. Fans can follow the digital venture on social media platforms @BearBetsPodcast, watch new episodes of the show on YouTube and listen on Apple and Spotify.
