ESPN’s Dianna Russini, who has emerged as one of the network’s top NFL reporters, is leaving the worldwide leader for The Athletic, according to a report from Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.
Per Marchand, Russini will become The Athletic‘s top NFL insider, where she will write, appear on video platforms and work with podcasts covering the league at large.
Russini and ESPN were in active contract negotiations, as the network very much would have liked to have kept her onboard, Marchand reports. Negotiations were reportedly going well as ESPN offered her a raise to stay, even amid the recent layoffs with the network. Even so, Russini is off to The Athletic as she will earn a promotion and work for one of ESPN’s top competitors.
