FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 18, 2026
Contact: Abby Arndt, media@thefsga.org

FSGA Announces 2026 Matthew Berry Game Changer Award Winner

LAS VEGAS – The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA) proudly announced Clay Walker as the recipient of the 2026 Matthew Berry Game Changer Award during its annual Winter Conference in Las Vegas. 

“Game Changer” – selected by and named after the celebrated fantasy sports pioneer and NBC Sports football analyst – lauds moments, businesses, and innovators responsible for setting fantasy sports on a path that has made it a multi-billion-dollar industry enjoyed by more than 80 million North Americans every year.

Walker was honored for his pivotal role in shaping responsible gaming policy, including his leadership and contributions to the development and passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). Twenty years later, UIGEA remains a cornerstone of the U.S. regulatory framework governing unlawful internet gambling. More specifically, UIGEA recognized fantasy sports as a game of skill and explicitly excluded fantasy sports from internet gambling legislation, paving the way for the booming fantasy sports industry we know today. 

"The UIGEA carve-out for fantasy sports and games of skill is the exact definition of game-changing,” said Berry. “Clay saw where the industry was headed and did the hard work to help shape it responsibly. And while legislation like that is always the result of many hands and many voices, Clay’s leadership helped bring those efforts together in a way that created lasting impact. On the 20th anniversary of that legendary legislative victory for our industry, I'm proud to recognize him."

Walker  is currently the General Manager of University of Virginia NIL. He previously held senior leadership positions with USA TODAY Sports, the  NFL Players Association, where he was part of the team that launched NFL PLAYERS Inc., and East Carolina University Sports Properties. In 2005, he became the first person from a sports labor union to be named to the Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list of the most influential people in sports business.

Walker emphasized that the recognition reflected a collective effort rather than an individual achievement. “I'm deeply honored to receive the Matthew Berry Game Changer Award,” said Walker. “When Congress began debating bans on online poker and sports wagering in the early 2000s, fantasy sports got swept into the conversation - largely because of the emergence of higher-stakes games. By then, the NFLPA had spent more than a decade building a legitimate fantasy sports business with dozens of partners, from ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC Sports and Yahoo to the NFL itself, so we engaged on Capitol Hill to protect what so many had worked to develop.”

Walker added, “Most members of Congress didn’t understand the difference, so it took real education and a clear message: you can’t randomly pick a fantasy team and expect to win - success requires knowledge and skill, supported by an entire ecosystem of news and analysis. I’m proud that argument ultimately resonated, and I accept this award on behalf of everyone who helped see that effort through - policymakers, industry leaders, legal experts, advocates, and partners who worked collaboratively and persistently to get it right.”

Previous Matthew Berry Game Changer Award winners include: Fantasy baseball pioneer Ron Shandler; ESPN Senior Writer and Injury Analyst Stephania Bell; FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles; live-scoring innovator Tony Fernandez; philanthropist Scott Fish; and high-stakes gaming company World Championship of Fantasy Football (Emil Kadlec and Lenny Pappano).

Widely considered "the face of fantasy football," Berry is an NFL analyst for NBC Sports and the Football Night in America pre-game show. The host of Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry on Peacock, Berry joined NBC in 2022 after spending 15 years at ESPN as its lead fantasy sports analyst. The Sports Emmy award winner is one of only six people inducted into both the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the FSWA Hall of Fame. He most recently made history by becoming the first fantasy football analyst to be on a Super Bowl pre-game show when he was a part of NBC's presentation of Super Bowl 60. Among his other achievements, Berry wrote the New York Times best-selling book Fantasy Life in 2013 and most recently founded Fantasy Life, the fantasy sports media, tools and gaming company.

About FSGA
The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association is the only national organization representing the interests of fantasy sports and gaming companies. We are the voice for over 80 million fantasy sports players in the United States and Canada, and for the companies that provide services, news, information, and competition to support these growing industries. Our members are sports and gaming enthusiasts, with companies that range from small startups to large media corporations. Our mission is to provide our members with essential research and data, networking opportunities and collective action to help them reach their potential. For more information, visit https://thefsga.org.