Dianna Russini to Leave ESPN for ‘The Athletic,’ per Report

ESPN is losing one of its best NFL reporters to a top competitor.

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.

Russini had been with ESPN for eight years, appearing on all of the network’s major NFL programs. ESPN plans to backfill her position, with Lindsey Thiry expected to transition out of her role as the network’s Los Angeles correspondent and will begin a new role as a full-time NFL reporter. Marchand also noted that Kimberley Martin and Jeff Darlington could see a bump in airtime as well.