Diana Russini returned to covering the NFL on Wednesday with a new show, but did not address the relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel that cost her her place as one of the league’s most high-profile reporters.
Seven months after the New York Post published photos of Russini and Vrabel together at an Arizona resort, and Russini resigned from her job at The Athletic amid an investigation by the outlet into her previous coverage, she announced this week a new show hosted by BetUS, an online sports betting site.
“The Russini Report” was scheduled to air live at noon ET on Wednesday, but was off the air for at least 45 minutes, when a full version of the episode was posted online. On social media, some users reported that the BetUS site was not loading or that the stream had crashed. “Well… you broke it,” wrote the X account associated with Russini’s show.
In a column on the BetUS website, Russini wrote, “I have a lot to say” about his seven months away from NFL coverage. But when his show began, before appearances by guests including former NFL coach Bill Parcells, Russini did not address Vrabel, the nature of their relationship or his decision to resign from The Athletic, instead offering “a personal note.”
“You know, over the last few months, I’ve had a lot of time to think about my life and my priorities and who I want to be moving forward and being home in New Jersey with my husband and our two little boys and really being present. It’s given me so much perspective that I didn’t even know I needed,” Russini said.
“I’ve also had a lot of long conversations with people in the soccer world. You know, some were about the game, and some were about life. To the people who picked up the phone, checked in, and offered both encouragement and honest, heartfelt advice, thank you. Those conversations helped me find my way back to the work I love and to myself, right here hosting the show.
“So anyone who knows me knows that I’ve always been obsessed with the NFL. But maybe because I haven’t been there so much in recent months, my passion for covering this league has never been stronger. I’m so grateful, so grateful to have the opportunity to do it again.”
Russini became a national reporter while working at ESPN before joining The Athletic in 2023, where she wrote columns, hosted a podcast and was one of the company’s most visible and highest-paid journalists, The New York Times, which owns The Athletic, reported.
Russini has not spoken publicly since making statements in April after the New York Post published photos of her and Vrabel together in Sedona. The Post published subsequent photos of the two men in other locations. Vrabel missed the third day of the NFL draft in April to attend a consultation with the Patriots’ backstop. After the photos were released, Vrabel told reporters at the time that he had “had difficult conversations with people I care about — with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players.”
Less than a week after the Post’s initial article, Russini resigned from The Athletic, writing, “I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand by every article I have ever published” in a letter to the publication’s top editor.
An internal investigation by The Athletic concluded in September and determined that while there was no clear link of bias showing that Russini’s media coverage helped promote Vrabel, she had a “clear conflict of interest” that was not disclosed to her editors but should have been. “The appearances surrounding his relationship with Vrabel undermine our public’s confidence in his impartiality,” the report’s author wrote.
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