Make Page Six a Preferred Source Dianna Russini spent months working on her playbook.
A source exclusively told Page Six Russini was advised to return to the industry as a commentator in her attempt to restore her reputation after her scandal with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.
“Advisers close to Russini were quite suggestive that coming back in the role of commentator is a smarter long-term and short-term decision than coming back as an insider,” the source told us of Russini – who is known for breaking NFL news stories.
“If you’re going to go back, you have to go back as a ‘voice’ more than an insider,” the source added. “If she’s going to go back to football, navigate her into a role where she’s going to be respected.”
“The Russini Report” isn’t the only project the former “Athletic” reporter is pursuing, as a source exclusively told Page Six, “There are other opportunities for her. This is the first of a couple of opportunities she is in the process of taking.”
Russini, 43, left many questioning her move to partner with BetUS – an offshore sportsbook with a controversial reputation, as the company is not allowed to operate in the US – but the decision was made to allow her to “create and craft the program she wanted to make.”
“That seems to be the future of what sports media is going to look like moving forward,” the insider theorized. “These properties like BetUS, it seems what they’re really basically saying is you can do what you want to do on YouTube – we’re just the funding behind it.”
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Reps for Russini did not respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Russini made her return Wednesday in a one-hour premiere episode of “The Russini Report” – seven months after Page Six published exclusive photos of the sports reporter and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel holding hands and hugging at a Sedona, Arizona, resort.
The comeback got off to a rocky start, as the episode got delayed by close to an hour because the website had to work on “adding capacity,” a source told us at the time.
BetUS later tweeted, “Well… you broke it. 😅 The premiere of The Russini Report drew a record-breaking audience today! We’re adding more seats so everyone gets in. Stay with us! We’ll be back shortly. 🙏.”
Russini opened the episode by addressing the Vrabel, 51, scandal.
“Over the last few months, I have had a lot of time to think about my life and my priorities and the person I want to be moving forward and being home in New Jersey with my husband and our two little boys and being truly present,” Russini said at the start of the show.
“It gave me so much perspective that I didn’t even know I needed,” she continued. “I’ve also had a lot of long conversations with people all around football. You know, some were about the game and others were just about life to the people who picked up the phone and checked in and offered both encouragement and honest advice, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
“Those conversations helped me find my way back to the work I love and back to myself, right here, hosting the show.”
Russini added that her passion for covering the NFL has “never been stronger.” Guests on the episode included Damon Amendolara – who actually discussed memes involving Vrabel and Russini – Philadelphia radio host Spike Eskin and legendary coach Bill Parcells.
In response to the Sedona photos taken in March, Russini and Vrabel insisted to Page Six at the time that they were joined on the trip by friends. But multiple eyewitnesses insisted to Page Six that they were alone.
The Athletic launched an investigation – as she often broke stories connected to Vrabel’s teams – and she ultimately resigned on April 14, days after the first set of photos were published.
She claimed in her resignation letter from the outlet – where she earned a salary of reportedly $800,000 a year – that the “media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process the Athletic is trying to complete.”
Then on April 23, Page Six released another set of photos of Russini and Vrabel getting cozy at NYC’s Tribeca Tavern in the early hours of March 11, 2020.
“They were kissing and they were all over each other,” an eyewitness told Page Six at the time of publication. “He had a ring on.”
Russini and Vrabel did not comment on the 2020 photos when contacted by Page Six.
Vrabel was married to his wife, Jen, for 11 years when the photos were taken. Russini tied the knot with her husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt, six months after the snaps were taken. They both remain married to their spouses today.
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