Chris “The Bear” Fallica is entering his third football season with Fox Sports after a long stint at ESPN, and a lot is on the horizon as his Bear Bets podcast debuts a new studio this week. In an interview with FOS, Fallica chatted about changes to his show, the upcoming debut of Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy on Big Noon Kickoff, his best bets for this football season, and navigating betting limits at online sportsbooks.
Front Office Sports: Time flies, and you’re already in Year 3 at Fox Sports and the Bear Bets podcast. You’ve got some changes coming up with the studio and talent. What do you have cooking for this football season?
Chris Fallica: Yeah, we’ve got some pretty creative people involved in the pod, and they had an idea to mix things up this year and have myself, Geoff [Schwartz], and Sammy P. [Panayotovich] in studio now throughout the year for all the shows and kind of build it out a little bit.
They have a set, which is going to kind of reflect, like a poker table or a craps table, and it will be a little more active and allow us to stand up in front of the monitor and present some things. They really decided to place an emphasis on a lot of the viewing portion of things and create an emphasis towards a YouTube channel to hopefully give viewers and listeners a little better idea of what we’re doing. So it will basically be Sammy, Geoff, and I, and then we can bring a rotating fourth person—Will Hill, or a coach, or another handicapper—in every week to mix things up.
The first Thursday when we go down and record will be the first time I’ve seen the studio. So looking forward to getting down there.
FOS: That’s awesome. So you’ve been on both sides of this ESPN/Fox college football war. What are your thoughts on adding Dave Portnoy and the Barstool crew to Big Noon?
CF: I applaud the hire. I love the whole “Let’s take a chance and see what happens” type of mentality with it. I worked with Pat [McAfee]. I don’t really know Dave personally yet, but seeing him and his—I don’t want to say character, because really his personality is a better phrase—I think they’re different.
I think a lot of people are thinking that Dave is gonna be on the Big Noon set every segment like Pat is with [College] GameDay, and I don’t know anything for certain, but I can’t imagine that being the case. I think they’re gonna put Dave in a couple of different roles throughout the show, maybe does some features or maybe does a rant. I’m hoping that we do a gambling segment where he and I can go back and forth. He actually reached out to me after the news came out. I know he’s excited and looking forward to it. I’m excited and looking forward to it as well.
And I think having that Barstool show for a number of events throughout the year where they travel is a really good thing for Big Noon, because that show will now kind of occupy that 9 [a.m. ET] hour and give us a really nice lead into our show at 10.
So yeah, I’m excited to see how it comes across. And again, just like everything in this world, either you’re gonna love it, or you’re gonna hate it. And I think the people who may be a little skeptical of it right now, who are like, how can you bring that guy in? are gonna see it and be like, “Oh, O.K., maybe I’m not a fan, but it’s not as bad as I thought,” or, “You know what, it actually came across pretty well. I kind of like what they did.”
So I think it’s gonna be fun—a good addition to the show, and I can’t wait to see him next week in Columbus, where I’m sure he’s going to be warmly received by the Ohio State fans.
FOS: I think it would be compelling for the viewer if he had some legitimate tension with Urban Meyer.
CF: Well, he might. I’m sure there’ll be a little bit of a Michigan–Ohio State [rivalry]. I don’t want to say that we will “manufacture” anything, but that might be a good idea, to have Urban and Dave go back and forth on a little Ohio State–versus–-Michigan rivalry-type segment. That would be fun.
You know what’s funny? Now that you bring that up, I can remember when College GameDay actually had Nick Lachey as a contributor on the show. And one of his first shows, producers had him sing the Michigan fight song in Ohio Stadium, like before anybody was even in it. And that did not go over very well with the fans, and I even think some people in the athletics department. So yeah, it was great.
FOS: Returning to gambling, what are some of your highest confidence futures picks for this season?
CF: I think South Carolina under 7.5 is one that I’m really high on. You can look at what they did last year. They kind of came out of nowhere. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers is obviously a number-one, Heisman candidate type of guy, but I worry about the cast behind him and I think every game that they have on the road is losable.
They’re at LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and they got Virginia Tech in a neutral-site game, and they got Oklahoma, Alabama, and Clemson coming to Columbia. In those eight games, they gotta go 4–4 to beat me. I think 8-4 is a stretch, potentially, this year for South Carolina, just because of schedule. Also: Minnesota over 7.5 and I’m kind of on an island with Clemson where I don’t see them as a national title contender.
FOS: Do you have any mid- or long-shot NFL futures, like awards or teams that could surprisingly win the Super Bowl?
CF: I have not made any Super Bowl bets, but I have made a couple of awards bets. I bet Mykel Williams from the 49ers could be the Defensive Rookie of the Year. His price has come down a little bit. But I think if you look at the Niners, bringing Robert Saleh back as defensive coordinator is going to be a big deal for them. It seemed like they really lacked a lot of pressure up front in the last couple of years. And being opposite Nick Bosa, that’s going to open up some opportunities for Williams.
The schedule is very, very manageable. It’s a team that should win 10 or 11 games. And you’re going to get a team that’s going to be in the playoff mix. He’s going to get a lot of hype. So, Mykel Williams was a guy that I had bet. I bet Omarion Hampton Offensive Rookie of the Year early, but the prices have come down. I also bet Emeka Egbuka, in a pass-heavy offense in Tampa, with a chance to put up some big numbers.
Here’s an interesting one on DraftKings: Steelers to lose in the wild-card round at +320. Everyone knows that it’s kind of like a running punchline joke about Mike Tomlin never had a losing season as the head coach of the Steelers. But I think if you look at the division now, who knows how good that Bengals defense is going to be. If you’re banking on 9–8 from the Steelers, that potentially puts them in the playoffs as a wild card. And that means that you’re going to wind up with a trip to either Buffalo, Baltimore, or Kansas City. And that’s where your season’s going to end.
I don’t necessarily like the win total, per se. But I think if you’re just backing up history and the moves that the Steelers have made to kind of win now, you can see them making the playoffs if Rodgers plays like he did late last year. We’ll see if Kaleb Johnson can be their every-down back, but yeah, instead of just worrying about a -110 or -120 bet with the win total, I boosted my value there thinking it’s better to bet them to lose in the first round at better than three-to-one.
FOS: As a pretty sharp gambler with a track record over the years, how do you navigate getting limited by the books to still make it worth your time to handicap and get these bets down?
CF: I’ll be honest: especially in Connecticut, where there are only three legal books—Fanatics, FanDuel, and DraftKings—we don’t have very many options. Fanatics really put a clamp on my account, maybe three weeks after they opened in the state. It was like, O.K., I literally only bet $10 at Fanatics. So it makes it hard.
You’re able to do what you can, and certainly when you go around the country like I do, and you’re able to open up an account at BetMGM and Caesars and all the other little books.
So, having that, even though maybe you’re getting limited to 20% to 30% of the max, it’s still worth it. When I’m on the road, I’m able to basically do enough to really make it worthwhile. I’m on the road every week during football season. So it still does make it worth it for me.
But it is frustrating. I think the frustrating part for a lot of people, whether it’s a pro bettor or someone like me who has a platform, is that when you see certain people out there with these big, massive bets in certain books. Like, here’s a $25,000 future at Fanatics to win whatever, and it’s like, “How are you betting $25,000 at Fanatics?” They’re taking that bet, and they won’t let me bet more than $10. It’s kind of hypocritical. That’s what kind of rubs me—and I know a lot of people—the wrong way.
You should welcome the smarter action to know okay here’s how the market is going to move. It kind of helps you move your price and move your odds a little bit, recognizing that the people who you want to know where they’re playing and if they’re giving you the information, we’re letting you bet and this is what they’re betting. Okay, now, we need to adjust in the make make a little bit of a sharper number.
I will say this in full disclosure: FanDuel and DraftKings have treated me extremely fairly, and I know a lot of people don’t necessarily have those similar-type experiences with those two books, but they have treated me very fairly, so I can’t complain about that. However, on the other hand, Fanatics and SugarHouse, which was formerly in Connecticut, I can’t speak as kindly to those two books.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
