NBC 5 Chicago fires sports anchor Mike Berman; Lou Canellis expected to start next week

NBC 5 fired sports anchor Mike Berman on Wednesday amid a reshaping of its sports department, the Sun-Times has learned. Berman, who grew up in Northbrook, had been with NBC Chicago since 2016. He declined to comment.

The Sun-Times reported Monday that longtime Fox 32 sports anchor Lou Canellis was close to a deal with NBC 5. That deal is done, and he’s expected to start next week. But his arrival and Berman’s departure are not related.

Canellis will fill the role held by former NBC 5 lead sports anchor Leila Rahimi, who left in 2024. The station now has an opening for a weekend sports anchor. Jeff Blanzy and Kacy Standohar have shared sports-anchor duties on a per-diem basis.

NBC 5 is gearing up for a big year of sports on a national level. “Sunday Night Basketball” begins Feb. 1, the Olympics begin later that week and “Sunday Night Baseball” will move to NBC this summer. NBC 5 has the chance to take advantage of those events as lead-ins to its newscasts and “Sports Sunday,” which Canellis figures to host.

Though NBC 5 doesn’t have the amount of regular local sports that Fox 32 and Fox Chicago+ have with the Bears, Wolves and others, it has delivered postgame coverage of the Bears’ games it airs and is looking to reshape its local sports coverage as its national network increases its sports portfolio.

NBC 5 drew big ratings for the Rams-Bears divisional playoff game Sunday night. Unofficially, the broadcast drew a 34.7 household rating from Nielsen — by far the highest-rated local Bears broadcast of the season — which is about 1.27 million households in the Chicago market. More ratings information is expected Thursday.