Matthew Berry is walking away from the thing that made him a household name.

After 25 years, the NBC Sports fantasy football analyst announced he’s ending his weekly “Love/Hate” column, the comprehensive fantasy preview that launched his career and became required reading for millions of fantasy footballers every Thursday.

In his final column, published this week, Berry made it clear that this wasn’t about declining interest or creative burnout, but rather that it was simply time.

“It takes me all night. Literally ALL NIGHT. 24 hours or more to write it every week,” Berry wrote. “And I’ve heard the suggestions — make it shorter, don’t do a long-winded intro, have Chat GPT write it… all that and many others, all designed to take time and pressure off my workload.”

But Berry refused to compromise on quality. The column, which started on Rotoworld in the early 2000s before following him to ESPN and then NBC, became Berry’s signature work. It was equal parts fantasy analysis and personal storytelling. His trademark lengthy introductions covered everything from childhood memories to pop culture observations, often running thousands of words before getting to the actual player recommendations.

The decision reflects Berry’s current position in the industry. Once just a fantasy writer scraping for recognition, he’s now built Fantasy Life into a legitimate business that recently secured $7 million in funding led by LeBron James and Maverick Carter. The startup, which features Berry’s Guillotine Leagues format, has attracted investors, including Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and George Kittle, among others.

That success traces back to Berry’s departure from ESPN in 2022, when the network gave him an ultimatum about his side business. “ESPN came to me and said they liked me, wanted to bring me back, give me a raise, and a three-year extension,” Berry revealed in an interview last year. “But they said I’d have to get rid of Fantasy Life because they think it’s competitive.”

Berry chose his company over ESPN, telling them: “What’s more competitive — if I stay here and have this thing on the side, or if I go somewhere else and compete against you?” He landed at NBC Sports, where the network embraced his entrepreneurial ventures rather than viewing them as threats.

The irony isn’t lost on Berry that he’s ending “Love/Hate” just as his business ventures are taking off. Fantasy Life now serves as “the official fantasy tools partner of NBC Sports” and has evolved well beyond Berry’s original media company into a comprehensive fantasy platform.

In his farewell column, Berry reflected on what legacy means, inspired partly by Matthew Perry’s posthumous reflections on wanting to be remembered for helping people rather than just being known for Friends. Berry hopes to be remembered not just for fantasy football analysis, but for lifting up others in the industry and being a good husband and father.

“I need to change my schedule, spend more time with family, spend more time working on the things that I hope they’ll say about me, not spend more time on the things that I already know they’ll say,” Berry wrote.

The end of “Love/Hate” marks the conclusion of one of fantasy sports’ longest-running institutions. Berry will continue his NBC duties, including Fantasy Football Happy Hour on Peacock, but the weekly written column that consumed his nights for a quarter-century is done.

For Berry, it’s about controlling his legacy before it’s too late. He built Fantasy Life specifically to own his future rather than be at the mercy of network executives. Now he’s applying that same thinking to his time, choosing family over the all-consuming weekly grind that made him famous.

The fantasy football world will adjust to Thursdays without Berry’s marathon essays. He firmly believes that it’s better to end “Love/Hate” on his terms than let it become something he’s no longer proud of.