Matthew Berry is the most famous fantasy football expert on the planet. He is a former and contributor to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” pregame show. He now runs his own eight-figure media company, Fantasy Life.
This week, he joined OutKick for a wide-ranging conversation about his career, leaving ESPN and NBC, possibly returning to ESPN, appearing in “Avengers: Endgame,” breaking the news of Tom Brady’s move to Tampa Bay, and the economics of his business.
We also asked him if he’d hire his friend and former colleague Dianna Russini.
Russini stepped down from The Athletic this summer amid a company-wide investigation into the with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. She has not returned to sports media since. There are valid questions about whether she ever will.
“Its a great question. I like Dianna a lot,” Berry responded when we asked him directly whether he would hire Russini at Fantasy Life.
“I will say this: I consider Dianna a friend. And I think shes really, really talented and good on air.”
“So, you know, the question would become, can we afford her? What is she going to do for the company? Because we dont really break news.”
He continued, “I will tell you that every time I was on ESPN, and we had her do any of my shows, she would come on my podcast, she would come on the fantasy show, she did the Sunday morning show. She always came prepared, energetic. She was nice to all the producers. Showed up on time, prepared, gave a great performance. Whatever we needed.”
When pressed on whether the photos and questions about her relationship with Vrabel would concern him, Berry said he did not want to weigh in.
“If she was working at Fantasy Life, she would be providing content that would help people win their fantasy leagues, not necessarily what she did at ESPN or The Athletic.”
Berry said he would ask himself the same questions about hiring Russini that he would about any potential employee.
“This isn’t specific to her, but anyone that we might hire, I ask how do they fit? How do they fit within the team? How much do they want us to pay them? Can we afford that person? Can we monetize that person? Is that person going to do a show for us? Is that person going to be a contributor across the shows that we have? Do we think that person drives traffic?”
He further explained how he monetizes Fantasy Life and the types of contributors who fit the company.
“Our business, we sell premium tools. So we have Fantasy Life Plus, which is 37 different tools that help you in your fantasy league, help you in your bets, help you in your DFS. Do we think that person is going to help us sell Fantasy Life subscriptions, or are they going to drive enough traffic that we get them into the funnel where we can then convert them into a paying customer?”
He concluded, “So I think its not a simple yay or nay, but to be clear, I personally have nothing bad to say about Dianna.”
The key to Berry’s response is that he would absolutely hire Russini if it made financial sense. Regardless of what one says about her photos with Vrabel, Berry is right that he runs a fantasy content company. At Fantasy Life, she would not be in the breaking-news journalism business. She would be a personality offering entertaining opinions on fantasy football.
There is an argument that, given her friendship with Berry, a destination like Fantasy Life would make the most sense. Berry says Fantasy Life will generate eight figures in revenue this year. He predicted he will make back, and exceed, his NBC salary in three years.
If there were bets on the next sports media company to sell for nine figures, we’d wager on Fantasy Life. Perhaps Berry thinks Russini could help him get there.
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