Afternoon Edition

November 6, 2026

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Dianna Russini’s next act is coming into focus, several months after resigning from The Athletic in the aftermath of Page Six publishing photos showing her with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Her new content is expected to be sponsored by gambling operators.

—Ryan Glasspiegel, Mark Maske, and Michael McCarthy

First Up

FOS spoke with DraftKings employees let go in this week’s layoffs, which marks at least the third round of job cuts the company has made this year.
The prospects for unpaid vendors in LIV Golf’s bankruptcy case are not good. There are more than $100M in claims, but just $2M set aside for recovery of those claims.
College football’s loaded Saturday—with all seven matchups featuring both teams ranked inside the CFP’s top 25—sets up a huge day for ABC and ESPN.
The NCAA’s latest attempt to move Division I men’s soccer to a fall-to-spring calendar is set to fail after hundreds of schools rejected the proposal.

Dianna Russini Set to Return to Media: What We Know

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Dianna Russini is poised to make a sports-media comeback soon, Front Office Sports has confirmed, several months after resigning from The Athletic in the aftermath of Page Six publishing photos showing her with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel at an adults-only Arizona resort in April.

After ProFootballTalk first reported Russini has told people around the NFL that she is expecting to return to the industry next week, several options have emerged for what comes next.

Russini is expected to launch new content sponsored by gambling operators, sources said, adding there have been talks with Jake Paul’s Betr platform, as well as offshore sportsbook BetUS. One source said Russini has also had talks with iHeart.

FOS discovered a new X/Twitter page titled “The Russini Report,” created in October, that has only three followers at the time of publication—Andres Vargas, a content creator and spokesperson for BetUS; Crossing Lines, a show sponsored by BetUS featuring ex-Barstool personality Jeff Nadu and cohost Donnie Seymour; and an additional video manager, named Natalie, following the page from a protected account. The “Russini Report” page indicates a show will air live on Wednesdays encompassing pro football news, injuries, and analysis. The page previously indicated the show would be “powered by BetUS,” but that language has since been edited out.

On Friday morning, BetUS teased a new show on social media, with a woman making a comeback, launching Nov. 11. In the teaser, text messages reading, “Is it true? You back?” and “Football was weird without you reporting,” among others expressing similar sentiments pop up on the screen. The BetUS post featuring the teaser has since been deleted.

Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is also an endorser of BetUS, which is headquartered in Costa Rica.

On Wednesday, Page Six reported Russini will be “headlining her own show” on a digital platform. “It’s been in the works for a while and she can’t wait to get back to what she loves,” a source told Page Six.

Russini stopped responding to messages when presented with BetUS, Betr, and iHeart as places she has had talks with. Her agent, Matt Olson of CAA, referred FOS to the publicist Melissa Nathan, who declined to comment. Spokespeople for BetUS, Betr, and iHeart did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Vargas.

Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, a host for iHeart and its subsidiary Fox Sports Radio, has previously said he would welcome the chance to collaborate with Russini again. Russini was a frequent guest on Weiner’s previous show, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, and also joined Weiner on his God Bless Football show during Super Bowl week this past February. If Russini reaches a deal with iHeart, it is not expected to encompass Fox Sports Radio, one source said.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy also previously said he would consider hiring Russini, but he told FOS this week that she is not going to work for Barstool now. Sources told FOS that Kalshi, Underdog, and FanDuel are not in the running to sponsor her content at this time.

After Russini and Vrabel were photographed hugging and holding hands, the two issued statements saying their relationship was platonic, not romantic. Russini resigned from the New York Times–owned Athletic about a week later, and Vrabel missed one day of the NFL Draft to attend counseling.

One source told FOS he expects Russini to lean in to her NFL insider role. The question is how much cooperation she will get from NFL players and coaches, as well as the league itself, with the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl only months away. “All she needs is one big scoop to show she has motion,” says the source. FOS previously reported that Russini was planning a sports-media comeback.

In September, The Athletic released an investigation saying Russini “should have disclosed to The Athletic the nature of her relationship with [Mike] Vrabel to allow editors to assess the kinds of stories on which she should have been working.”

The investigation did not seek to discover whether the two had a romantic relationship, and while it noted Russini was “effusive” in her praise of Vrabel at times, it mirrored how he was covered by other outlets.

Ultimately, the investigation recommended editor’s notes be added to three videos and one story in which Russini covered Vrabel during her time at The Athletic.

Playoffs Start Now 🔥 Utah Royals vs. San Diego Wave

It’s a royal match that is sure to make waves. This Friday, in their first playoff appearance, the Utah Royals face the San Diego Wave, a team they have never beaten in the regular season. San Diego will be looking to advance to the semifinals and beyond, in search of the club’s first championship win. Will Utah make club history, or will San Diego ride the wave to the semifinals? Tune in Friday to Prime Video at 10 p.m. ET to find out.

ONE BIG FIG

Financial Fast Lane

Marco Bello-Reuters

$1.1 billion

That’s Formula One’s third-quarter revenue, up 28% from the same period last year, according to parent company Liberty Media. It marked the first time F1 topped $1 billion in third-quarter revenue, helped by holding one more race than in 2025.

F1 teams received $422 million during the quarter, up from $341 million a year earlier. Through the first nine months of 2026, the racing series generated nearly $2.5 billion in revenue, roughly flat year over year despite holding two fewer races.

Your Paddock Pregame

It’s time for “Lights Out” in Las Vegas. Front Office Sports and PwC are teaming up to host the perfect paddock pregame for Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend. On Friday, Nov. 20, FOS and PwC will host Tastemakers—a curated afternoon of engaging conversations with some of sports’s most influential executives.

Join us as we bring together leaders in sports, media, and entertainment from all over the globe who are building, investing in, and shaping what comes next in the world of sports.

Limited space available—request to attend now.

STATUS REPORT

One Up, Two Down, One Push

Mike Segar-Reuters

Bill Belichick ⬆⬇ The six-time Super Bowl–winning head coach is among five coaching candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2027. Belichick was passed over in his first year of eligibility, sparking widespread criticism, and he now faces another round of voting before potentially reaching Canton.

Big 12 ⬇ Saturday’s matchup between No. 4 Utah and No. 8 BYU has major College Football Playoff implications, but it’s kicking off at 10 a.m. local time in Salt Lake City. The rivalry game, typically played in primetime, will air on ABC at noon ET as several big SEC matchups fill the afternoon and evening TV schedule.

Women’s hockey ⬇ Teams USA and Canada are wearing generic jerseys at the Women’s World Championship, due to a commercial-rights dispute. In 2025, the IIHF made an agreement with True Hockey to supply jerseys for all member associations, but the sponsorship conflicts with existing commercial obligations: USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have deals with CCM and Bauer, respectively. The dispute has not been resolved in time for the tournament, which opens Friday in Denmark.

Trevor Lawrence ⬆ The Jaguars quarterback is enjoying the best season of his six-year NFL career, leading the league with a 111.7 passer rating—throwing 18 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Lawrence, who signed a five-year, $275 million contract extension in June 2024 that runs through the 2030 season, is on pace for 38 touchdown passes and has emerged as an MVP contender.

ONE FUN THING

The Onion Bowl

Bryan Terry / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Onion CEO Ben Collins told Pablo Torre the satirical newspaper is trying to sponsor a college football bowl game. Though the game would be real, its presentation would include the sort of antics one might find at a Savannah Bananas game. Collins said some of the ideas include: “Handshake cam: kiss cam, but for formal handshakes. Counter-programming the jumbotron: for those game attendees that aren’t super into football, we play the entirety of Jurassic Park or some other movie on one of the jumbotrons at a low volume.”

Collins said ESPN rejected the site’s bid for the Frisco Bowl, while the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation turned down its six-figure offer for the New Orleans Bowl. He said the inaugural Puerto Rico Bowl could be a possibility.