Dianna Russini hit her ESPN ceiling.
The longtime NFL reporter left the Worldwide Leader to join The Athletic this month in a move that will see her write, appear on video platforms and work with the outlet’s podcasts, The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported.
“I did walk away,” she told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “It wasn’t a situation where ESPN didn’t want me. I love ESPN. They’ve given me so much opportunity and the people I’ve worked with were incredible. It was a really difficult decision for me, for my family. But it really came down to recognizing at ESPN I wasn’t going to change roles. There was no elevation there for me based on my conversations with the company. They did not have a vision outside of what I currently do.”
ESPN reportedly offered Russini a raise to stay, despite the company laying off multiple big-name employees as part of parent company Disney’s cost-cutting measures.
Instead, the 40-year-old opted to end her eight-year tenure with ESPN to join The Athletic, which was bought by The New York Times for $550 million in January 2022.
Read Related Also: DeSantis Slams 'Sham' Special Counsel in Hunter Biden Investigation as Trump Arrives in Iowa
Russini is now one of the highest-paid NYT writers in history, according to King’s column.
“The Athletic, through conversations I had with all the people in charge, just has an endless amount of roles and ideas for me,” she said. “They want information. They want a storyteller. They want someone with personality. Once I realized they were pretty much handing me over a blank sheet of paper that basically just said go be who you want to be, I realized that this could change my life.
“The Athletic showed that they value me more than ESPN, for sure.”
Still, as King notes, Russini holds her TV rights, which could add to her new-look profile.
“I’m a TV free agent for the first time in a while, and that was the gem in all of this,” she said.
