Longtime Fox 32 Chicago sportscaster Lou Canellis close to deal with NBC 5

Lou Canellis likely hosted his last Bears postgame show for Fox 32 on Sunday night. The longtime sportscaster is nearing a deal with NBC 5 that could be announced this week, the Sun-Times has learned.

Nothing is final, but Canellis is at the end of his contract with Fox 32, and there are strong indications in the industry that he will land at NBC 5. His departure would leave Cassie Carlson and Tina Nguyen as Fox 32’s on-air sports talent.

NBC 5 hasn’t named a lead sports anchor since Leila Rahimi left the station in October 2024. She had held the job for almost 2½ years before her mysterious departure. Mike Berman, Jeff Blanzy and Kacy Standohar have shared sports-anchor duties.

Canellis has been with Fox 32 since 2009. In addition to anchoring, he has hosted Bears pregame and postgame shows and programs such as “1st & North,” a roundtable discussion about the NFC North, and “Chicago Sports Tonight.” As the home of most Bears games, Fox 32 leans into its relationship with the team, and Canellis has served as the frontman.

His move to NBC 5 would be curious because the station doesn’t have that relationship and its local sports programming is limited. It airs the weekly recap show “Sports Sunday,” carries the Chicago Marathon and covers local athletes competing in the Olympics.

Canellis would rejoin former Fox 32 executive producer John Schippman, who’s returning to NBC 5 in the same position this week. Schippman was the vice president of sports content at NBC 5 and oversaw NBC Sports Chicago before it shut down in 2024.

Canellis rose to stardom in the 1990s as the sideline reporter for Bulls broadcasts on SportsChannel, a predecessor to Chicago Sports Network. Before that, he was an executive producer at NBC 5.