Dianna Russini is ‘absolutely’ planning to return to sports media and Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports is the leading contender to land her signature, according to reports.
Russini is now weighing up her next move after The Athletic finally released its report into the Mike Vrabel affair scandal.
According to Front Office Sports, Russini has already held talks over ‘several new job opportunities’ that range from returning to her previous role as a pro football insider or even becoming an opinionist or personality.
The former NFL insider is reportedly yet to make a definitive decision on her next move but she is expected to act soon, given the new NFL season starts next Wednesday with Vrabel’s New England Patriots taking on the Seattle Seahawks in a Super Bowl rematch.
The report claims Barstool Sports is the ‘lead candidate’ to hire Russini. She is close friends with Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz and PFT Commenter, two of the brand’s most famous on-air personalities, and previously appeared on their podcast a number of times.
Portnoy previously described Barstool hiring Russini as a ‘no-brainer’, telling Us Weekly he wouldn’t rule out a deal for her even if she did have an affair with Vrabel. ‘That’s not like a capital offense that should end somebody’s professional career,’ he said.
Dianna Russini is ‘absolutely’ planning to return to sports media in the future as she weighs up her next move after The Athletic finally released its report into the Mike Vrabel affair scandal
The report said that Russini’s relationship with Mike Vrabel was a ‘clear violation of standards’
The long-anticipated report found Russini was ‘noncompliant’ with its standards but showed limited evidence of bias in reporting around Vrabel.
Russini stepped down from the New York Times-owned company after bombshell pictures emerged of her and Vrabel at an adults-only resort in Arizona back in March.
Further evidence emerged in the weeks that followed, raising questions over the nature of their relationship and the issue of journalistic ethics given her role covering the league as an NFL insider.
The investigation declined to uncover the nature of Russini and Vrabel’s relationship. Both denied having an affair or cheating on their partners, though Vrabel later apologized for his ‘actions.’
The report states: ‘Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards. Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed.
‘Specifically, when it comes to The Athletic’s standards, Russini was noncompliant.’
Per The Athletic, Russini declined to be interviewed but insisted: ‘I stand by any and all reporting I’ve ever done in my career.’
The report added: ‘We neither completed an investigation nor reached any conclusion about the nature of the full relationship between Vrabel and Russini, but the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy.’
Vrabel was also asked for his reaction in a press conference on Thursday and replied: ‘No, I don’t have any reaction. We’re moved on and focused on Seattle and focused on the Patriots and focused on getting better this week.’
The five-month-long inquiry was conducted by Mike Semel, The Athletic’s editorial director for standards and editorial quality.
He ‘reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos’ that carried Russini’s byline as well as reviewing ‘204 episodes of the Scoop City podcast,’ her show with the company. He also interviewed ‘approximately 14’ of her colleagues and tried ‘to evaluate how The Athletic’s coverage of certain events involving Vrabel or his teams compared to coverage in other publications.’
The report claims that ‘when first confronted with the photos by The New York Post, Russini waited two days before telling her editors and managers. She then told a story to explain the photos that did not align with facts, raising issues of trust.’
Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports is the top contender to land her signature, according to reports
Vrabel was quick to shutdown any questions about Russini and the investigation on Thursday
However, Semel found limited evidence of favoritism towards Vrabel, stating: ‘Most of what Russini wrote about Vrabel or the Patriots was transactional and newsy. In addition, I’ve not found a clear link to conclude that Russini used her platform to promote Vrabel or help his teams during her time at The Athletic.’
He added: ‘That said, there are examples of Russini writing glowingly of Vrabel that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable.’
The report points out that ‘One story in particular likely would not have happened were it not for the connection between Russini and Vrabel,’ an article regarding the year between him being fired by the Tennessee Titans, then hired by the New England Patriots.
However, the story idea came from another reporter at The Athletic, and while they ‘asked Russini to broker a meeting with Vrabel,’ she was not present and ‘had nothing to do with the journalism.’ As a result, the report found: ‘The story itself meets Athletic standards, even if the access is questionable.’
The report also noted that ‘Russini’s work was seldom reliant on Vrabel as a source or subject’ and said that Athletic staffers ‘did not suspect she was closer with Vrabel than anyone else.’
Just last month, one of Russini’s former colleagues spoke publicly about the saga and defended her reporting, calling her a ‘really good friend’ and stating he was ‘really, really proud of the journalism we did together.’
‘I don’t think people understand the level of elite that she was performing at in terms of keeping in touch with the really important people around the league,’ Mike Silver said.
‘And I don’t mean just agents and transactional, like players, coaches, owners, all of it, talking, having real conversations with them every day and really knowing what was going on and competing at a very high level.’
Silver added: ‘And I do think she’s going to be back, probably not as an insider, at least in the short term. But I think she’ll be back in this realm, probably talking about football and other things pretty soon.’
