Thursday, Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo broke the news that Chris “The Bear” Fallica would be leaving ESPN for Fox. Saturday, he made his final appearance on College GameDay with a send-off befitting his over two decades of work in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
If you've ever wondered where Chris Fallica's "Bear" nickname came from pic.twitter.com/wKciVEhjYK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 3, 2022
While that was Fallica’s final appearance on GameDay, it doesn’t mean he’s done with ESPN just yet. During an appearance on VSiN’s A Numbers Game podcast on Friday, Fallica explained the details of his move to Fox, including how it’s more than just an opportunity to join Big Noon Kickoff.
“Big Noon, that’s part of it, but I’m not leaving for Big Noon. That’s not the reason why,” said Fallica. “It’s basically to be involved in everything that they touch, whether it’s college football, whether its gonna be Women’s World Cup, World Cup, Euros, Belmont and Elmira horse racing, NFL, baseball, all of those events that they have, I’m going to be a part of.”
In terms of how the move came together, Fallica said that Fox came to him and the entire thing happened very quickly.
It’s funny, you never really plan on leaving, and when your deal’s up you always get nervous, is it gonna get renewed? What if I don’t get an offer?” said Fallica. “It was one of those deals where one day my contact me and was like ‘Hey, Fox wants to reach out and say hi, you wanna hop on a Zoom call with them?’ I’m like ‘Yeah, sure, absolutely.’ That night, my agent calls me back and is like ‘This is real, just so you know.’
“It’s amazing how fast it happened. It’s still kinda surreal. I wish I had the opportunity to finish out the year and do the GameDays at the CFP but that’s not ultimately something I can control. I have to abide by what ESPN wants.
“My contract does expire on December 31. We’ve got a few more pods with Stanford Steve. We’ve got Daily Wager. We got the column. I’ll still be on the Selection Show on Sunday,” said Fallica.
As for his podcast future, while Fallica would love to continue working with Stanford Steve, the plan at Fox is to create a new podcast that will presumably partner him up with someone new.
“I definitely plan on doing that. I’m kinda kicking around thoughts in my head right now. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to continue with Stanford Steve…outside of College GameDay…that podcast was the thing I’m going to miss the most because Steve and I have been doing this for a while. Love him and it’s so much fun. But yeah, I definitely plan on doing the podcast there…just gonna figure out type and form and with who.”
