Dianna Russini’s NYT salary before she lost her job over Mike Vrabel photo scandal revealed: report

Dianna Russini was bringing home the bacon.

The sports reporter was paid an annual salary of $800,000 working for the New York Times before she lost her job over the Mike Vrabel scandal, a former manager who had knowledge of Russini’s income told the newspaper in a new report.

Russini was one of the highest-paid journalists at the Athletic, which was purchased by the Times in 2022 for $550 million.

“At the time the story broke, the Athletic was in discussions with Ms. Russini about renewing her contract, which was set to expire at the end of June,” according to the outlet.

In April, Page Six released exclusive photos of Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, holding hands and hugging at a luxury resort in Sedona, Arizona.

The New England Patriots head coach and the sportscaster — who are both married to other people — denied anything romantic was going on between them and insisted they were joined by other friends at the resort, despite eyewitnesses disputing their claims.

Russini was subsequently sidelined by the New York Times and later resigned from her position as senior NFL insider at the Athletic.

Vrabel then announced that he would be skipping Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft to seek counseling and focus on family and personal matters.

A day later, Page Six published exclusive photos of the former NFL player and Russini kissing at a dimly-lit New York City bar in 2020 — six years before their Arizona resort outing.

At the time, Mike was already married to his wife, Jen Vrabel, while Russini was slated to exchange vows with her now-husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt, just six months later.

Russini then deleted her social media accounts and Mike and his wife had an emergency 24-hour marriage summit in Park City, Utah.

As of this month, the NYT investigation into Russini’s affair is still ongoing.