This transcript was exported on Dec 04, 2020 - view latest version here. John Boccacino: Hello, and welcome back to the Cuse Conversations Podcast. My name is John Boccacino, the communications specialist in Syracuse University's Office of Alumni Engagement. I'm also a 2003 graduate of the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in broadcast journalism. I am so glad you found our podcast. Matthew Berry: I'll do interviews and people say like, "Oh, do you have your dream job?" And I'm like, "No, because when I was dreaming of jobs, who thought you could make a living talking about fake football on the internet?" John Boccacino: Today's guest on the Cuse Conversations Alumni Podcast is one of the best known, most respected voices in the world of fantasy sports. He is Matthew Berry, better known as the talented Mr. Roto. Barry earned a bachelor's degree in producing for electronic media from Newhouse in 1992. He has made quite the career for himself as a senior fantasy sports analyst at ESPN. At a time when fantasy sports were starting to rise in popularity, Berry seized on the opportunity and has been helping fantasy owners set their lineups ever since. He's a member of not one, but two halls of fame dedicated to fantasy sports. And he's our proud guest here on the podcast. Matthew, thanks for taking the time to join us. Matthew Berry: It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Go Cuse. John Boccacino: It's always great. Go Cuse. It's always great to connect with a fellow Orange alum who is achieving success out there. And clearly I gave you the hubris of that introduction, but is it surreal sometimes to think about this career that you've carved for yourself and fantasy sports? Matthew Berry: It's very surreal. It's interesting. When I talk to college students, I've come back to Syracuse a couple of times over the years, and when I've talked to kids there or at other places, one of the things I always mentioned, as I said, when I was in college, when I was at Syracuse, this job didn't exist. I'll do interviews and people say like, "Oh, do you have your dream job?" And I'm like, "No, because when I was dreaming of jobs, who thought you could make a living talking about fake football on the internet?" Right? And that's an advice I give to college kids is like, "Follow what you love. Follow your passion." Because again, when I was at Syracuse, fantasy sports wasn't particularly popular. It was very niche. And the idea that you could make a full-time living, let alone a good living, talking about it, analyzing it, providing content around it was unfathomable back when I was in college. Now it's been quite awhile since I've been back at Syracuse as a student. But still, yeah, it is a little surreal. Honestly, I still pinch myself that I get to be on TV and get to write for a big website or have my own podcast for popular company, again, just talking about fake football. John Boccacino: It is. It's really unbelievable to think about how this has morphed into this. It's a multi-million, multi-billion dollar industry. People are on their phones all the time. Everybody wants the feedback. They love your Love/Hate column. It seems like Matthew Berry Cuse Conversation Podcast (Completed 12/04/20) Page 1 of 12 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Dec 04, 2020 - view latest version here. there's so many ways to get fantasy sports. What can you point to as a nexus for this explosion in the industry? Was there a moment? Was there something when it all started to click together that "Boy there's really an interest and a demand for this?" Matthew Berry: If felt more like a slow build than some sort of overnight sensation. I feel like it was more of a slow build. I mean, there's a couple of touch points that I can look to along that growth curve. One of them honestly is ESPN. ESPN hired me in 2007 full- time. And the very first job that I had with the company was, my title was actually Director of Fantasy Sports. ESPN Senior Director of Fantasy Sports. And how they explained the role to me here was that I was to be a cheerleader, that I was to be an advocate for fantasy football, not only to our fans in a public-facing manner, but also internally as a cheerleader, internally explaining to a lot of the stakeholders. Because at that time, not every Sportscenter producer played fantasy sports, not every NFL Live producer played fantasy football, et cetera, et cetera, not every radio producer. And going to the producers of every show, going to the people in charge of various areas of content for the company and saying like, "Hey, this is what fantasy sports is. This is why it's important to our fans. This is why it's a potential revenue stream for the company." And so I think just a major media company like ESPN getting behind it in the way that it did and putting somebody like me on TV that wasn't some ex-NFL athlete that didn't know anything about fantasy sports, but was just sort of given a piece of paper saying like, "Oh, this guy might be good for your fantasy team," or whatever, "For all you fantasy guys out there." They were like, "No, no, no. Here's one of you. Here's somebody that is a born and bred, played fantasy sports since I was 14 years old." So once ESPN got into it, I think then you saw other major media companies sort of follow suit. The NFL and Major League Baseball, and some of these sports leagues that for years sort of held it at arms length, that said it might be too close to gambling. Is it some form of sports gambling? Which it isn't. But they held it at arms length for a long time. And then eventually after they saw ESPN and myself sort of really championing this and talking about it openly and in a positive manner, they sort of got on board and they realized, "Oh, this is something that can help our fans. And also help drive revenue and interest." There was a study that came out in the New York times that showed that the average football fan watches about three hours of football a week. But the average fantasy player watches over six hours a week. And when the NFL saw that and they saw ESPN, they were like, "Oh, maybe instead of pushing it away, maybe we should actually embrace it." And then all of a sudden you started seeing fantasy commercials for the NFL on games. So those things, I think we're all big catalysts. Obviously the advent of the internet a little bit earlier than that was a big thing as well. '95, that era, so suddenly you didn't have to keep stats by hand. You could follow games along live, and there was a system online to keep track of your teams and your draft and your statistics. And so that was obviously something that helped bring it to the forefront. Major media Matthew Berry Cuse Conversation Podcast (Completed 12/04/20) Page 2 of 12 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Dec 04, 2020 - view latest version here. getting behind it also in a big way. But it's more of a slow growth, I feel like, than any one big particular instance. John Boccacino: You must get all sorts of requests, questions, advice. Run the gamut for us. How do people approach you? And how often are you approached for fantasy advice outside of your column? Matthew Berry: All the time. All day, everyday, any which way they can try to reach me. Right? They email me, they tweet at me, they slide into my DMs. I've been at ESPN now for over 15 years, and I have multiple years left on my contract. But if for some reason I ever left ESPN, I feel pretty good about sort of where I am in the space. And I feel like I'd find another job. So I don't really need a LinkedIn. Right? I'm not looking for my gig. Mine is the kind of job that you don't find on LinkedIn anyway. But whatever, I have a LinkedIn. And then people will send me LinkedIn requests and it's just somebody that's, whatever, the office manager of like a Home Depot in Wyoming. And no disrespect to Wyoming or Home Depots or office managers, but it's nothing that I have really in common with that person professionally. And they'll be like, "Yeah, Hey man, I'm just a big fan. By the way at my flex spot this week are you thinking Giovanni Bernard or Mike Davis?" Or whatever it is. Right. "Do you think Matt Breida's going to play?" And you're just like, "Wow. The thirst is real." I'll be out in public and be with my kids or something like that, and I've had people follow me into a public restroom. I've had people interrupt my dinner with my kids or something like that.