Alexi Lalas To Make Fox Sports Debut Next Month After Opting To Leave ESPN

ESPN's Alexi Lalas has joined Fox Sports as a studio and game analyst, joining the net's soccer team of host Rob Stone and analysts Warren Barton, Eric Wynalda and Brad Friedel. Lalas is set to contribute to Fox Sports' coverage of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, England's FA Cup, MLS, U.S. men's national team matches, UEFA European Championship Qualifiers and FIFA Women's World Cup in '15 (Fox Sports). SI.com's Richard Deitsch reported Lalas "will start at Fox Sports in January and will debut in the studio on Fox' FA Cup coverage." Lalas said that he "had contract offers from both Fox and ESPN." Deitsch reported one Lalas' deal is "within the four- to five-year range." Lalas has worked at ESPN since '09, and his contract "expires at the end of December." Lalas said of working both in the studio and in the booth, "I am comfortable doing both, but I love the studio. ... First and foremost, my love has always been the studio." Lalas said that he "met last month with Fox management at their offices," including Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks. Lalas: "Talking to the executives at Fox, there was a real desire to do something big and bold when it comes to soccer on television over the next eight years." Lalas added that he and agent Richard Motzkin "started seriously exploring his broadcast options about a month and a half ago." Deitsch noted Lalas "lives in L.A. and has two young children," giving him a commute of "about 20 minutes as opposed to 3,000-plus miles" at ESPN. Lalas "went out of his way to praise how good ESPN treated him over the years and the mega-platform the company gave him." He said, "If I am valuable, it is because of what ESPN has done for me" (SI.com, 12/16).