Since joining NBC Sports last summer, Matthew Berry has been involved in a wide variety of their programming. He’s been hosting daily shows on Peacock and a Sunday NFL show carried on Peacock (and partly on CNBC and NBC owned-and-operated affiliates), and has also been contributing to Sunday Night Football pregame show Football Night In America. Now, he’s been added to their coverage lineup for the upcoming May 6 Kentucky Derby:
Berry will host a special edition of his Fantasy Football Happy Hour Peacock show from Churchill Downs on Thursday, May 4 at 4 p.m. ET, with guests Jay Croucher, Connor Rogers, and Drew Dinsick. He’ll then be part of the main Derby broadcast on NBC and Peacock Saturday, which begins at noon ET (with post time for the actual Derby race estimated at 6:45 p.m. ET). As per that NBC release, his contributions there will include “Handicapping 101 with Matthew Berry,” which “will provide a lighthearted look at the basics of betting the races.” Here’s Berry’s quote from that release:
“Being at the Kentucky Derby is a sports bucket list moment for me as a long-time fan and viewer of the race,” Berry said. “Getting to do my show from historic Churchill Downs and then be a part of NBC’s coverage of The 149th Kentucky Derby is awesome. I promise to wait till I’m off air to start in on the mint juleps.”
NBC has brought some interesting people in for Kentucky Derby coverage before, including MSNBC election analyst Steve Kornacki. Kornacki was the only one on their coverage to correctly pick winner Medina Spirit in 2021. We’ll see if Berry can follow that in his first Derby broadcast for NBC.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.