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Dianna Russini is making a career comeback seven months after resigning from The Athletic amid the Mike Vrabel scandal. The veteran NFL reporter will launch a new weekly show, but she hasn’t been welcomed back by a major media outlet. Instead, she’ll make her comeback with an offshore sportsbook.

What the show will look like

Dianna Russini has found a company willing to take a chance on her, months after she resigned from The Athletic following reports of an alleged extramarital affair. In the wake of the scandal, Russini stepped back from public life, while Mike Vrabel continued on coaching. But now, she’s ready to get back to broadcasting.

BetUS, a gambling company based in Costa Rica, announced on Monday that it has hired Russini as its official NFL analyst. Her show, The Russini Report, will stream live for an hour every Wednesday at noon ET on BetUS TV. She will also write a weekly column on league news and upcoming matchups. BetUS has described the program as a live NFL betting show with game previews, matchup breakdowns, data-driven analysis, and guest interviews. The first episode is set to feature Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Parcells and sports radio host Damon Amendolara, ESPN reported.

Russini will also bring NFL analysis to Jon “Stugotz” Weiner’s sports talk show, Nobody’s Safe. She has said the new show will mix her reporting with her own views. In an interview with People, she said she plans to share opinions, which she called “something I wasn’t really allowed to do before.”

The scandal that sidelined her

Dianna Russini was a well-known NFL reporter until this spring, though her reporting never made her a household name outside of football. The scandal did. Russini made headlines in April 2026 when she resigned from The Athletic, days after the New York Post published photos of her and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel hugging and holding hands at an adults-only resort in Arizona.

More photos surfaced about two weeks later, showing the pair kissing at a New York City bar in March 2020, six months before Russini’s September 2020 wedding to Kevin Goldschmidt. The images suggested the relationship stretched back years. Vrabel has been married to his wife, Jen Vrabel, since 1999. Both Russini and Vrabel initially denied any romantic relationship, and neither commented on the 2020 photos.

The Athletic later completed an internal investigation. It found that Russini broke company policy by not disclosing her relationship with Vrabel, though they declined to label the nature of that relationship.

Is her return that controversial?

Before the scandal, Dianna Russini had a dream career and was considered one of the top NFL reporters in the game. The announcement of her new show has media critics split. WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti questioned why she would come back to NFL media at all. NBC Sports‘ Mike Florio has argued that rebuilding credibility will be a massive roadblock, though The Athletic‘s review found that the relationship had little effect on her reporting.

Others inside the game have welcomed her back. A source told Page Six that many owners, coaches, staff members, and players have been pulling for her return. Russini said the same in her interview with People, explaining that many people inside the NFL had been kind to her and encouraged her to return.

Some supporters have noted that Mike Vrabel’s career has continued largely unaffected by the scandal, so hers should, too. The NFL did not investigate Vrabel, and he has had far fewer headlines written about him in relation to the alleged affair and “accountability” than she has. Supporters, along with columnists at outlets such as The Boston Globe, have been pointing out the double standard since the first photos surfaced.

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