via BroBible
Jason Fitz isn’t your average football analyst—unless your definition of “average” includes being a Juilliard-trained violinist who once toured the world with The Band Perry, performed in front of 110,000 people at Hyde Park, and then decided to pivot to sports media on a whim. You know, the usual career trajectory. A lifelong Raiders fan, Fitz’s love for football began as a welcome break from his grueling eight-hour daily violin practice as a kid. Fast forward, and now he’s at Yahoo! Sports, host of Yahoo! Sports College Football Power Hour and Yahoo! Fantasy Football Live, providing sharp analysis on everything from the NFL to college sports, all while bringing a fan’s passion and a music prodigy’s precision.
On The Mostly Occasionally Show, I caught up with Fitz to talk about his journey from playing Carnegie Hall to analyzing the Raiders’ latest heartbreaker. Along the way, we dug into one of the most controversial changes to college sports in recent years: NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals. Spoiler alert: Fitz is all in on NIL, and if you’re one of those purists clutching your pearls over college athletes finally getting paid, he’s got some thoughts for you—big ones.
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Fitz has a lot to say, and as someone who’s made not one but two successful career pivots, he knows a thing or two about change. Whether it’s being on the road with The Band Perry during the “If I Die Young” era or hosting live TV at ESPN, Fitz’s career has always been about seizing opportunities, much like the athletes now cashing in on NIL deals. So, when it comes to the seismic shift that is NIL, Fitz isn’t just on board—he’s been waiting for the rest of us to catch up.
Oh, and let’s not forget the role football played in his life even as a young musical prodigy. Fitz recalls the rule his dad laid down during Raiders games: “My dad’s only rule in the house was, ‘I don’t wanna listen to a cat die while I watched the Raiders game. So no practice on Sunday.’”
That’s a man with priorities.
NIL Is Here To Stay
On The Mostly Occasionally Show, Jason Fitz didn’t hold back when explaining why NIL is not just here to stay—it’s only going to get bigger. We happened to talk the day after Tennessee made a major NIL announcement about season ticket holders paying a fee that will go to an NIL talent fund, a move that really underscores how integrated these deals are becoming in college sports.
“The Tennessee announcement yesterday, that they’re gonna start charging a 10% surcharge to all season ticket holders that will go specifically to NIL—that to me is actually the smartest thing I’ve heard so far.” Fitz didn’t sugarcoat it: some people are going to hate this. “I know people in the stadium who don’t want that, but it’s a little like PSLs. If you wanted tickets to the Las Vegas Raiders in the new stadium, you had to buy a PSL and that PSL was wildly expensive, but that’s part of how they helped pay for a $2 billion stadium. There is some level of tax to people who are actually going to the events.”
For Fitz, this represents a shift in how universities are finding creative ways to fund NIL deals without leaning entirely on deep-pocketed boosters. It’s a strategy, but one that’s not without its consequences. As Fitz bluntly put it, “It’s also going to create even more of a dangerous mindset, of the obnoxious fan that’s like, ‘I pay your salary. You can’t talk back to me.’ Like, that’s only going to get louder and worse.”
Still, he stands firm in his belief that NIL’s benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. “NIL’s not going anywhere. The people who are yelling and screaming about NIL… man, you kind of missed a beat. This is the direction we’re headed, and it’s not going backward.”
For Fitz, this evolution in college sports is inevitable, and despite the entitlement some fans might feel, he sees it as a necessary correction in how athletes are compensated.
NIL: A Long-Overdue Correction
In one of his most passionate moments on The Mostly Occasionally Show, Fitz dives deep into the historical disparity between regular students and athletes, making the case that NIL isn’t some radical departure, but a long-overdue correction.
“I will go off my soapbox for a second. I will remind everybody, when I was a kid and I was looking at colleges, one of the colleges that I had the opportunity to go to was University of Indiana, which at the time had one of the most prominent violin instructors in the world. Indiana offered me a full ride. I could have gone there for free. While I went there, I would’ve studied with one of the best study teachers in the world. I would’ve had some of the best practice facilities in the world. I could have immediately started teaching lessons to kids in that area. As a University of Indiana student, I could take any gig I wanted and while I was getting those gigs, I could charge more for those gigs because I’m part of the prestigious Indiana University School of Music.”
Fitz elaborates on the freedom that regular students have always had to monetize their skills and university affiliations without restrictions:
“All of these things, I could make money while I’m getting a free education. All I ask everybody that yells about NIL, that was back in the ’90s. Why have we afforded full scholarship with the opportunity to profit off of the name of the school for kids like me, but not for athletes?”
He ties this comparison directly back to athletes in college sports, pushing back against those who argue that a scholarship should be sufficient compensation:
“Everybody that sits there and says, well, an education should be enough, obviously is unaware that they’ve been offering the free education with all of the extra perks, to every single student that’s going there that isn’t an athlete for years.”
Fitz’s point is clear: the outrage against NIL is largely misguided, because many students in other fields have long had the freedom to earn income based on their university’s reputation and their own skills. NIL simply extends that same opportunity to athletes.
The Future of NIL: It’s Only Going to Grow
Fitz acknowledges that while NIL deals are still new, they’re rapidly becoming an integral part of college sports. He suggests that fans may be getting used to it, but the concept of directly funding athletes isn’t going away — in fact, it’s likely to expand.
“NIL’s not going anywhere. And I will remind everyone, these advantages have existed for non-athletes forever. So I have no problem with athletes finally getting the same justice, that every other student enrolled in that campus gets.”
This quote reaffirms Fitz’s strong belief that NIL is a permanent part of college athletics — and for good reason. He repeatedly emphasizes the notion that this evolution is simply leveling the playing field for athletes who have long been left out of the earning opportunities available to other students.
“The people who are yelling and screaming about NIL… man, you kind of missed a beat. This is the direction we’re headed, and it’s not going backward.”