Matthew Berry won’t be in attendance at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday, but he will mark a football milestone when NBC Sports begins its five-hour Super Bowl pregame show at 1 p.m. ET.
Berry will be the first fantasy sports analyst and commentator to appear as part of the Super Bowl host network’s pregame show. This shows how institutionalized fan-driven fantasy sports ventures have become.
For Berry, a former TV writer who started calculating sports statistics by hand at the age of 14, being welcomed onto the set of the official Super Bowl pregame show remains an incredible experience.
“The fact that a guy like me would be on the Super Bowl pregame show is crazy,” Berry told Variety.
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Those who participate in fantasy sports create their own team rosters based on the active rosters of each of the NFL’s 32 teams. Then, as the NFL season unfolds, you track each player’s performance each week and compete against dozens, if not thousands, of other players to assemble the best-performing roster based on each player’s performance statistics. Therefore, what matters most is not each team’s win-loss record, but rather the touchdowns, passes, rushing yards, etc. achieved by individual players.
The gambling aspect of fantasy sports is on the rise in the era of legal online betting and prediction market services. But Berry emphasizes that the core of fantasy sports’ appeal is the fun of tracking weekly games and chatting about them with sports-obsessed friends.
“What fantasy football has done is bring people closer to the game, and it’s gotten people interested in players and teams that they wouldn’t normally be interested in,” Berry says. “And that’s helped us raise the level of every game. Every game is important now.”
Now that fans have more access to players than ever through social media, fantasy football is gaining even more momentum as fans search team rosters for high-achieving players. Berry points to the trajectory of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson.
“They were one of the worst teams in the NFL as of (2025), so he’s not someone that gets the attention of football fans nationally,” Berry explains. “But anyone who plays fantasy football knows exactly who Michael Wilson is, because in the second half of this year, Jacoby Brissett will be the quarterback for the Cardinals, and (Cardinals wide receiver) Marvin Harrison Jr. Because Nia went down with an injury. Michael Wilson became one of the best wide receivers in fantasy football and put up monster points every week in Arizona’s losing games. There are always 25 players that everyone knows, no matter who the team is. Everyone knows who Aaron Rodgers is. Everyone knows guys like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. But fantasy football allows you to become a fan of even more players. ”
Berry began his career in the early 1990s in early Internet chat rooms and sports-focused message boards. Gradually, he rose to prominence and rode the wave of interest in fantasy sports, landing him an on-air gig on ESPN in 2007. He has toured with Fox Sports and other TV and digital outlets. He currently works for NBC Sports and this year’s big game begins Sunday at 6:30pm ET. The Super Bowl is typically the most-watched television show of the year.
Berry studied screenwriting at Syracuse University and then headed west. He eventually went on to work on television series such as FOX’s “Married With Children,” CBS’ “Ink” and NBC’s “Conrad Bloom.” In 1999, Berry was scouted to write a column about fantasy sports for the upstart site Rotoworld. It was a stepping stone to making fantasy sports his calling and establishing a media profile as an authority in the field.
The NFL cites the growth of fantasy sports as a big factor in bringing more casual, younger and more diverse fans into the football tent. Berry feels this is a great leveling feature, especially in business environments where employees put together their own pools. Social media platforms have made it easier than ever for groups large and small to form their own leagues. Just as games were a social bridge in the 1950s, so are fantasy sports today.
“It’s a way for friends, coworkers, family, and college roommates to get together,” Berry says. “This is the new poker game, the new bachelor party, the new golf game. This is how people interact socially. This is how the CEO and the kid in the mail room interact in some way.”
