It’s been over a week since renowned fantasy football expert Matthew Berry joined NBC Sports after announcing his intention to leave ESPN after 15 years. It made many to wonder why Berry would switch networks.
Berry was on the Brother from Another show with Michael Smith this week. Smith and Berry will do two fantasy shows in the upcoming weeks. On Wednesday, August 17 at 8 PM ET on Peacock, they will host the RotoWorld Draft Guide Show. During the football season, the duo will host the Fantasy Football Tailgate show from 11 AM-1 PM on Peacock before the day’s NFL action begins.
Before the two of them broke down fantasy football, Berry told Smith that he wasn’t necessarily looking to leave the Worldwide Leader and the money wasn’t exactly that much different.
“I wasn’t looking to leave ESPN. I have nothing bad to say about the place. The reason anyone gives a blank about me is because of those four letters and I’m proud of everything we accomplished there.”
“What I would tell you is that there were two things that were super important to me. Obviously, you want to be paid as much as you can get. We all want to make as much money as possible. It was very comparable in terms of what ESPN offered me to stay. ESPN offered me a 3-year extension, very nice raise. NBC also made a very generous offer, so the money was basically equal.”
With money not being the sole reason for the switch, Berry wanted to keep the Fantasy Life app and FantasyLife.com going, which was something he would not be able to do if he was still at ESPN.
“I have an entrepreneurial spirit…I wanted to continue my Fantasy Life stuff. I wanted to be able to keep doing that and building those businesses,” said Berry.
The other main reason for Berry going to NBC is that he wanted to be a part of the NFL coverage, an opportunity he was told he would have by being on Football Night in America Sunday nights during the season.
“I wanted to be a part of NFL coverage. I’ve always tried to push the ball forward in terms of fantasy analysis. I believe that when you are talking fantasy, you are talking NFL. All it is is you are just talking ball…At ESPN because ESPN is owned by Disney, the entrepreneurial stuff wasn’t going to be allowed and I just wasn’t going to be a part of NFL coverage there. That’s how they’ve set their company up and let’s be clear, they have done really, really well over the years. It’s important for me to be a part of NFL coverage to have fantasy truly be aligned.”
