Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy knows how to get attention and generate headlines, and he did exactly that with his latest offer.
Former NFL reporter Dianna Russini, who resigned from The Athletic in April amid the Mike Vrabel scandal, is technically a free agent now, and it seems Barstool Sports is sensing an opportunity.
Dave Portnoy Interested in Hiring Dianna Russini
Portnoy, in a conversation with “Us Weekly,” went on the record to state that hiring Russini to Barstool would be an absolute “no-brainer.”
“No-brainer, if she wanted to work here, we’d do it,” Portnoy said. “She’ll land somewhere, and you know, if people who have affairs are never allowed to work again in this country, you’re gonna lose a significant amount of the workforce. It is obviously really sad, but at the same time, that’s not like a capital offense that should end somebody’s professional career.”
The reactions on social media were immediate.
Delaware County Times’ Christiaan DeFranco wrote on X, “Predictable since Day 1. Scum gravitates to scum. Now Outkick will suddenly do a 180 and start backing Russini. This has been a running joke in press boxes for months.”
NFL writer and insider John Frascella commented on his X handle, “She can go to Barstool… but I still think she’s more likely to come back with ‘The Dianna Russini Insider Podcast.’”
One user declared on X, “It is a no brainer.”
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Dan Viens of the “Seahawks Forever Podcast” posted on X, “Well duh, honestly that’s probably the most logical fit for her at this point. That would work.”
Steven Beck, host of “The Daily Pulse,” said, “She’d do well to take that. Dave would capitalize more than people would willingly admit. Probably a match-made”
FanSided’s Ernesto Cova noted on X, “Of course he would. Who would even deny that? It was literally the first thing everyone said would happen. It’s up to her to keep proving everyone right and keep stacking cash or save face and not join that hideous empire”
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The Basketball Diary’s X handle speculated, “When and where she comes back… and I think it will be in media… she will do numbers.”
Interestingly, back in April, when Russini’s photos with Vrabel first surfaced, Portnoy publicly mocked her resignation, calling her a “guilty canoodler” after her exit letter.
There is also an awkward internal dynamic to consider. Barstool’s Dan “Big Cat” Katz has openly doubted whether Russini would ever want to step foot in their offices, given how ruthlessly the site’s various podcasts have joked about the Vrabel drama. While Russini was a frequent guest friend of “Pardon My Take,” Katz acknowledged that their jokes may have changed the dynamic.
“I don’t know if she’d want to work with us,” Katz told Front Office Sports in late April. “Because we’ve made some jokes, and I totally understand, but we have to make the jokes that we make. It sucks that she had to leave her job. I think a lot of it was her own doing.”
Some, including Big Cat, have speculated that she could go the independent-media route instead of joining an outlet. It’s also possible that she moves away from sports media entirely, as she recently referred to herself as a “former journalist” in leaked text messages with a reporter from The New York Times.
The Athletic is investigating Russini’s reporting, and the findings should be released publicly soon. Russini has yet to give a tell-all interview and share her version of events since the scandal broke, and it’s unclear if she will. One thing is clear: If she does hope to work in sports media again, Portnoy just threw her a major lifeline.
