Tell me about your “passion project,” Fantasy Life. Where did that idea originate?
In 2013, I wrote a book called “Fantasy Life.” It debuted at number five on The New York Times bestseller list. The theme of that book was not just the story of my life, but also about the community of fantasy sports players, but mostly fantasy football players and how magical the world of fantasy football is, how it touches peoples’ lives in so many different ways. The brand means a lot to me. Given the success of the book, I thought that I could build on that. Over the years, I've done a bunch of different things under the Fantasy Life banner. There's a Fantasy Life app. We've started the Fantasy Life newsletter. We revamped the website. The goal there again is pushing the ball forward for fantasy. All of it is designed to help you win. I’m an entrepreneur by heart.
What motivated and attracted you to join NBC Sports?
I have nothing bad to say about ESPN. I had a great run there. As I've said to many people there internally, and as I say publicly, I left ESPN with hugs and handshakes. A couple things were important to me — number one was to be a truly integrated part of NFL coverage. I believe that a conversation about fantasy football is a conversation about the NFL.
At this stage of my life and in my career, I wanted to work on things that I'm really passionate about. I'm passionate about Fantasy Life. I’m passionate about building that business.
The opportunity to do fantasy analysis and sports betting analysis at a company that allowed me to do both of those things was what I was looking for. NBC provided me that opportunity in potentially the greatest way ever.
On my very first day at NBC, I was brought into a room with a lot of important people at the company. [Executive Producer and President, Production, NBC Sports] Sam Flood introduced me to everyone at the company and said, “This is Matthew Berry. He’s joining our team. He's part of our NFL coverage. Fantasy is not separate, betting is not separate, it is part of our NFL coverage, and we’re thrilled to have Matthew here.” That was just amazing to me.
Joining the cast of “Football Night in America,” the number one pregame show of any NFL game, the second highest-rated show in all of television, second only to the actual NFL game itself, that alone would be enough to get somebody like me to come over to NBC, but they also said, “We understand how important Fantasy Life is to you, and we want to help support that.”
I just really vibed with all the people that I met. I started my career at Rotoworld. Some of the people that I started my career with at Rotoworld are still here and are in very high positions at NBC, so there was a comfort level.
ncG1vNJzZmiooqR7rrvRp6Cnn5Oku7TBy61lnKedZL62sdKtoKimo2Kur7CMmqWsr5WnwHC5wK2roZ2nYq%2BmvtGyZJ%2BZnqmutMWMn6aorJKWua15zZuaZp2jpbs%3D