Former NFL reporter Dianna Russini has been in plenty of headlines since the photos with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel came to light.
Since then, Vrabel has remained as the coach, but Russini resigned from The Athletic and has not been seen publicly.
On Wednesday, a lengthy feature was released by Katherine Rosman and Ken Belson of The New York Times. A lot of information was revealed, but one of the most surprising was Russini’s salary at The Athletic, which is now owned by The New York Times.
“The Athletic paid her an annual salary of close to $800,000, according to a former manager who had knowledge of her salary negotiation,” the report stated.
“This would have made her one of the highest-paid journalists at the Times Company. She had been promoted as a face of the sports publication, which the company bought in 2022 for $550 million as part of an effort to expand the Times’s reach to sports fans around the world. At the time the story broke, The Athletic was in discussions with Ms. Russini about renewing her contract, which was set to expire at the end of June.”
It’s quite the development, and it shows how highly-regarded Russini was for her work as a journalist.
Russini insisted the photos of her and Vrabel holding hands were taken while at the hotel with other friends. In May, it was reported that Vrabel and Russini rented a private boat together in 2021 while Russini was pregnant.
Russini’s contract with the company was set to expire on June 30, although the latest report stated that the two sides were working on an extension.
However, Russini resigned due to the scandal with Vrabel, and she even went on to delete her X account.
