Dianna Russini returns to sports media after Vrabel photo scandal with NFL betting show

Dianna Russini will return to sports media with a weekly one-hour show focused on the NFL backed by offshore sportsbook BetUS, she announced Monday.

The Russini Report will stream on BetUS TV’s website and X account, accompanied by a weekly analysis column. BetUS has described the program as a “live NFL betting show” that will run through the remainder of the season with game previews, matchup breakdowns and guest interviews.

The news comes seven months after Russini resigned from her role as the Athletic’s top NFL insider amid an internal investigation into her relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.

In April, the New York Post published photos of Russini and Vrabel at an Arizona resort, taken around the time of the NFL owners meetings in March. Some appeared to show the two embracing and holding hands. Russini and Vrabel, who are married to other people, said the interaction was platonic. Russini said the photos did not reflect that they were part of a larger group gathering, and Vrabel called any suggestion of impropriety “laughable”.

The New York Times-owned outlet began a review of Russini’s work after additional photos and reporting raised questions about the nature of her relationship with Vrabel. Russini resigned on 14 April.

The Athletic’s investigation, the findings of which were announced in September, did not find signs of bias in her coverage but said her relationship with Vrabel was in “clear violation” of the newsroom’s standards.

Russini, 43, joined the Athletic in 2023 after an eight-year stint at ESPN.

In comments to People magazine on Monday, Russini described the events of this spring as “heartbreaking”. She did not directly address any of the allegations involving Vrabel, who was not investigated by the NFL for his involvement.

“The best way to describe what the last six months were like for me is heartbreaking,” Russini said. “At the beginning of this, it was a nightmare.”

She said her new show would include analysis on the NFL “along with a lot of my opinions”, describing that as “something I wasn’t really allowed to do before.”

“The way I’m going to approach stories is going to be very different now,” she told People. “I have an understanding and an empathy that I didn’t have before. I would do stories in the past at the best of my ability, and sometimes now I reflect on those, and I don’t know if I always thought about how much this would affect not just the player, but a team, an organization, the players’ families.”