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Looking at Where Dianna Russini Could Land Next

Despite recent controversy, there will be opportunities for the NFL reporter.
Jimmy Traina|
NFL reporter Dianna Russini is currently without a job.
NFL reporter Dianna Russini is currently without a job. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

1. NFL reporter Dianna Russini announced her resignation from The Athletic on Tuesday afternoon after the New York Post had published photos of her at a resort with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel last week.

Russini, whose contract with The Athletic was up on June 30, didn’t further address the images in her rather bizarre resignation letter.

So where could Russini possibly end up after this entire mess? It’s hard for me to see any scenario where one of the league’s broadcast partners (CBS, NBC, ESPN, Amazon) would bring her on as a reporter/insider minus one exception. Fox has repeatedly shown that it doesn’t care about a person’s past and will hire pretty much anyone.

I am not comparing what Russini allegedly did in any way, shape or form to what these people did, but Fox has hired Michael Vick, Pete Rose and many others who have taken hits to their reputation, so there’s no reason to believe Russini couldn’t land there.

Other avenues where I can see Russini landing include The Dan Le Batard Show. Le Batard said last week that he was having a very hard time with the Russini story because Russini is a friend and she has a history with the show.

Speaking of the Le Batard show, Stugotz, who currently hosts an afternoon radio show for Fox Sports radio, made a very strong statement last week that if The Athletic parted ways with Russini, he would instantly hire her as his cohost.

Lastly, Barstool has to be a strong possibility. This just seems like the right fit based on her personality. Russini has been a regular guest on Pardon My Take for a long time and they have the money to pay her.

I don’t think Russini will have a problem getting another job. Getting the money she was getting from The Athletic is a different story, though.

No matter where she lands, the problem Russini will have for a long time is getting NFL fans to accept her as just a reporter and not someone who was caught up in this alledged scandal.

2. We dropped a bonus SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast episode this morning with WWE undisputed champion Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes talks about his upcoming WrestleMania 42 match against Randy Orton and all of the controversy surrounding it thanks WWE parent company TKO inserting Pat McAfee into the storyline.

Rhodes also talks about his love-hate relationship with hosting a podcast, possibly getting into politics once he retires from wrestling, what it’s like to scroll through Instagram Reels and see videos of himself and his father, Dusty Rhodes, what old-school wrestling thing he’d like to see come back today, how he goes into shutdown mode during WrestleMania week, his daily coffee intake (which is shocking), how much his suits cost, warming up to a heel turn and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

3. For all of the issues the NBA had this season, returning to NBC paid off in a big way. The network averaged 2.8 million viewers for its 2025–26 regular-season games.

Sunday Night Basketball averaged 3.4 million viewers for the season. As a comparison, for the 2024–25 season, TNT, ESPN and ABC averaged 1.53 million viewers.

In an age of streaming and cord-cutting, broadcast is still the best place for sports to be when it comes to drawing the most viewers.

That sentence was my way of transitioning to tell you that the Masters, on CBS, drew 14 million viewers for the final round of action on Sunday. Viewership peaked with 20 million people tuning in to watch the tournament’s conclusion.

4. As Mr. Anti Streaming, a few people hit me up last night about Prime Video’s issues during the Heat-Hornets play-in game.

Since I am nothing but fair, I have to defend Prime Video here. The problems had nothing to do with streaming. It was a regular “technical difficulties” issue, not a buffering or spinning wheel thing.

I’m not saying technical difficulties are good. The outage went on for way too long.

Amazon Prime Video released a statement about its rough night.

5. Prime Video’s technical difficulties during the Hornets wild win over the Heat should not take away from the fact that the game gave us one of the best moments of the NBA season, which came right after Charlotte sealed the victory and LaMelo Ball almost killed the team’s mascot.

6. This one is for my fellow Yankees fans. This is one of the worst things I’ve ever heard a manager say.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Joe Buck returns to the baseball booth tonight to call the Mets-Dodgers game on ESPN along with Ron Darling and Orel Hershiser.


Buck being done as a full-time MLB broadcaster is truly a bummer because he’s so damn good at it. In honor of the occasion, here’s five minutes of Buck’s best calls.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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