Q&A: Dianna Russini of The Athletic

The Athletic's senior NFL insider on her job and how she does it.

Carlos Lima

Dianna Russini is the senior NFL insider at The Athletic and recently launched Scoop City, a podcast she co-hosts with Chase Daniel. She joined the company last fall after eight years at ESPN, where she was ubiquitous on television. One of the major players in the ultra competitive newsbreaking space, Russini spoke to Sports Illustrated about her work as the NFL's regular season nears.

SI: The Athletic did a survey that revealed 70 percent of football fans believe their gameday rituals actually impact their team's performance. We understand there's an ongoing campaign, the Fall Football Superstition Swap, celebrating that. What can you tell us?

DR: This is something that The Athletic is doing, basically tapping into fandom and trying to figure out, dig a little deeper on their superstitions to connect with the fanbase more. People can send a photo or write in what their superstitions are and they get some perks of our coverage. It's just another way to connect with the sports fan and that's how we go about our storytelling. Before we even sit and write we always go alright, what do people care about. It's that simple. What do people care about? As long as we as a company remember that we work for the fan, the reader, we're going to have success. I think this campaign is perfect for us because it's connecting us on a personal level with people's superstitions.

SI: This is going to be your second NFL season at The Athletic. What's the difference between going into Year 1 and Year 2?

DR: Just like anything else, the first year you do anything, you're trying to figure it out. You're trying to figure out your voice, where you can be helpful, where you can be productive. I was trying to figure out where I could fit at The Athletic. Especially because it was such a big change for me coming from the world of television for so many years. It was about figuring out how I could contribute to The Athletic and what that would look like. Now we've figured out how I'm able to help elevate the reporting and continue to grow the collaboration effort because that's something really different about The Athletic that I've experienced. There's a strong team culture here. We have beat reporters on almost every single team so much of my daily routine is checking in with the reports on the ground and helping, showing support any way I can. Whether it's checking with a source or finding out some information that's going on behind the scenes. That was something I figured out this last year that was needed at The Athletic but also something that was embraced so I'm going to continue to do that this season.

SI: When was the moment you realized the atmosphere was different than anything you'd experienced?

DR: It was the enthusiasm of the beat reporters reaching out to me the first week. I didn't know how they would take to me because there's a little bit of a thought that a television person going into a print world isn't as common as the other way around. We see so many great writers go to TV but we don't see a lot of TV people go to print. I thought I was going to fight that more than I had to. Beat reporters that I followed even before I joined who I had so much respect for went out of their way to not only say welcome to the team but thank you, we need someone who can help us with information. So that really helped my overall confidence making this jump—having everyone be really open about someone that is here to help get more inside information.

SI: Did you feel any pressure? Obviously, you've gotten to the level you have so you know the work speaks for itself but it did feel like a bit of a bump. Like getting the ball a little bit more and moving up the depth chart.

DR: I did because I had never been the lone insider at a place. I've always had Adam Schefter around me, Jeff Darlington, Chris Mortensen, people who had done this at such a high level for so many years that they almost become a little bit like your safety net because they can share information, they can help guide you. And that's what Schefter and Mort did so well for me over the years. They taught me how to take it to the next level behind the scenes. Especially through the phone, text messaging, how to be more aggressive. To come to The Athletic and having to be the one, to be responsible for hovering over the big stories, the big transactions while also a lot of the whys and hows. I was really nervous that first week and even writing my first column. I remember worrying that this wasn't going to be good enough and then I read it back after my editor cleaned it up a bit and I realized there was so much news in there. Once I realized The Athletic hired me for my reporting skills, I felt more comfortable. I always go back to that when I feel overwhelmed or extra competitive against the people who do this.

SI: Did you have a hard time writing that Word Document or composing it in the CMS or whatever? Were you stressing out just looking at a blank page?

DR: Oh god. [Laughs] Disaster. I've been in front of a camera for years. I never even wrote notes down. I just, off the top of my head, spoke football so I had to go about a few different routines to figure out what the best way to write this is in my voice. My editor at the time was really supportive about making sure I was comfortable. I didn't want anyone to read this and think anyone else wrote it. We made sure when you read my columns or you read my stories it was like okay, I know that person, I've seen that person on TV or heard them on the radio, they definitely wrote that. Once I figured out that The Athletic likes my voice and that's really all I need to do, the writing part of it actually has become the most fun part of the job for me. Something that scared me now gives me the most satisfaction.

SI: It seems like everyone now needs to be comfortable on multiple mediums. You have a new podcast and you seem to enjoy being a guest on a lot of different shows across the space. How do you view your role in terms of getting your name and what you're doing out there into an ecosystem that's so fragmented?

DR: Not just fragmented. Saturated. There's so many people doing this. I always go back to people want information. If you have it and you are consistently accurate and you have credibility in the league there's always going to be a need for you. I say yes to almost every opportunity because I do think it's important that sports fans know and hear that The Athletic is focused and built to be one of the best sports media outlets. It's really important to make sure that when people think of the Athletic it's not just the great reporting and storytelling but there's some faces and voices that you're familiar with. Which is why I'm so appreciative that guys like Rich Eisen, Dan Patrick, Dan Le Batard, the Pardon My Take guys who are so open to bringing me on because they don't really care where I work, they just want the reporting. It's really worked out well that these opportunities have come about. I feel that it's pushed me to be better at this as well. It's forced me to do different styles of television. It's really helped me get better.

SI: The insider world is full of a lot of different personalities but it's kind of like a binary job of whether you get the news or you don't. How do you remain true to yourself? Does being true to yourself help in your job?

DR: I attacked it like a ram when I started doing this because I didn't know any other way. I thought I'm just going to flood people and let people in the league know that I am not just going to be a sideline reporter, I'm not going to be a reporter that shows up and gives the company line in the pregame shows, in the postgame shows. I want to separate the type of work I want to put out there so I think I probably was leaning into my own athletic background as a soccer player. That was always my go-to when I was outplayed by someone or I wasn't prepared or I wasn't ready for the moment, I would go aggressive. It's why I was a walk-on at George Mason and was able to get a scholarship. My coach told me you have these instincts where you know how to get the job done. And I definitely applied that to reporting when I started. Then once I realized that the style that works for me wasn't the hit-you-over-the-head-and-call-constantly style. The best best way for me to get information or connect with someone is to always just be me. I have tried different routes. It does not work.

SI: Right.

DR: Look. I get beat all the time. It happens. I've asked sources before what can I do better or why didn't you think of me in that moment or why did you give it to this competitor and sometimes it's just that other person happened to text at that moment. There's no blueprint of how to do this if someone wants to do it. There's no secret skill. I just know from doing this on television and now at The Athletic, being me has helped the most. There are some people around the league that appreciate that.

SI: The unsaid part is that some of it is just luck, too.

DR: Oh my gosh. I'm eight-months pregnant with my first son and my little guy, he never let me sleep. He would kick me at 2 in the morning and I remember during free agency I was trying to get a little bit of rest. I was able to get into a little bit of REM sleep and he is just going at it. I get up, it's 2:45 at this time and I happen to look down and I see Trent Williams' Instagram. He had some sort of celebratory video up. I'm thinking 'wait, he definitely just got a new deal'. So I reached out to some people I knew were involved in it and I broke the story. It wasn't because I'm this hard-working reporter that I broke the biggest free-agency story that year, it was because my son woke me up and kicked me. I do think putting in the work leads to the work as well.

SI: It seems like the space is more competitive than ever and it's also more difficult as a consumer to keep up with who is first on a lot of stuff.

DR: It's become a space that's filled with a lot more people than even two years ago. There's not a lot of women doing it, that's one thing that always stands out to me. I want to see more women jump in the game. It requires a lot time and I think that some people don't want to deal with the hassle of that. You're on all the time, 24-7. You don't know when news is going to break. Ever since I became a mom, I've probably highligted it most just because I have more responsibilities, I'm in charge of the lives of these two babies. When Saquon Barkley signs with the Eagles and I'm putting someone in the car seat, I have to make a decision in that moment. It happens all the time. I actually joke that there's never been a news story that doesn't break during bathtime. If it's bathtime then something big is going down. There's a responsiblity there so I always want the fans to know that I'm on top of it.

SI: How is the podcast going?

DR: With Scoop City, we're 13 episodes in so essentially we're about a month and a half in and the support that The Athletic has shown has absolutley blown me away. They told me they wanted me to do a podcast. We had no idea what we wanted it to be, what it would look like or sound like. They gave me a team of people with incredible ideas and the ability to get it done. My colleague and cohost Chase Daniel, with all the experience that he has, and I like to think our friendship already, we've kind of mixed this all in. I do think in a world where there are so many football podcasts it's hard to figure out which one you gravitate towards. Are you looking for something to kind of numb your mind, are you looking to learn, it kind of depends on what you're looking for. I really feel like Scoop City has found a place and an originality that is a good mix of the big stories and information plus Chase's experiences. We just share. I can't tel you how many times we finish a podcast and it sounds exactly like the FaceTime I had with him in the morning. That's a good sign.