Wednesday marks Dianna Russini’s return to sports media. Her new show, The Russini Report, will debut at noon ET on BetUS. Her first column is already posted with the title Dianna Russini: “I’m Back, And I Have A Lot To Say.
Russini has not been expansive with her public thoughts over the past several months after resigning from The Athletic in connection with the Mike Vrabel scandal.
Advertisement
MORE: Dianna Russini’s next job appears to leak by internet sleuth
Russini, recently spoke to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview to open up about how the entire situation impacted her family, calling it a “nightmare” while saying that lies were spun out of control.
Russini announced her resignation on April 14 in a lengthy statement, saying she will be stepping aside due to the “self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.”
Russini was hired by The Athletic after leaving ESPN in August 2023 and joined as a senior NFL reporter.
In her first authored column, she puts into her own words the journey back.
Advertisement
For months, I walked. Sometimes with music, sometimes with a podcast (thank you, Giggly Squad, for keeping me laughing), and usually on the phone talking to family, friends, and my football family. To the people who answered and kept answering… you know who you are.
Thank you for walking with me, even sometimes from a thousand miles away.
Somewhere along those walks, I found time to think. About my family. My choices. The things I’d made room for, and the things I’d too often asked to wait.
Being home with my husband and our two little boys reminded me how much happens in the ordinary hours, and how grateful I was to be there for them.
Advertisement
And, because apparently I can’t help myself, I thought about football.
A lot of football…
Russini then self-reflects on her own passion for the sport and the way she wants to cover the league and its players. And it sounds like this venture will be a bit different.
For years, my job was to tell you what was happening around the league, usually letting you know who was getting traded, which coaches were under pressure, what teams were considering, and what was unfolding behind the scenes.
That curiosity is coming with me. So is my love of reporting.
But I want to give you more of what happens after the phone call ends, when I’ve had a chance to think…what does this mean? What are we missing? Is the explanation everyone’s accepting actually convincing?
Advertisement
There will be stories, arguments, and people who disagree with me. There will be things I get to explain and things I have to reconsider. And there will be plenty of room to laugh, because anyone who spends this much time thinking about football should try to enjoy it.
It will be fascinating to see what this relaunch will look like. In a few short hours we’ll actually have some evidence instead of just speculation.
