The legal implications of the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini story — and the legal questions surrounding the sports prediction market.

Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Audacy

Sports, News, Sports News

4.5 • 757 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 617 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Michael McCann, a legal analyst and senior sports legal reporter at Sportico and a Professor of Law at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, where he is Director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute. In this podcast McCann discusses how the Vrabel-Russini photographs are problematic, and in ways that pose potential hurdles in workplace investigations; the privacy aspect of the story; if Russini is under any professional obligation to cooperate in The Athletic’s investigation; why the NFL is unlikely to set a precedent on the issues of alleged infidelity or anti-fraternization; whether the Patriots are willing to endure daily scrutiny of Vrabel; the U.S. Department of Justice launching an investigation into whether the NFL has engaged in anticompetitive practices; the sports prediction market and why the prediction market feels like legal mess and a public health risk; why Kalshi is winning in court right now; how U.S. states can argue that prediction markets hurt the public; Donald Trump issuing an executive order that directs federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the Department of Education, to determine if colleges have become “unfit for federal grants and contracts” by engaging in “improper financial activities,” and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Sports Media Podcast. I'm your host, Richard Ditch. My producer is Bob Tabador, one guest on this podcast. He's been on before. And as I've said many times on social media, I consider him the foremost
0:22.1	expert or the foremost person you must read when it comes to the nexus of sports and anything legal.
0:29.9	Michael McCann is a legal analyst and senior sports legal reporter at Sportico, also a professor
0:35.0	of law at the University of New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce School of
0:38.6	Law, where he's director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute. And Mike and I, many
0:44.4	years ago, worked together at Sports Illustrated. Great to have him back on the podcast. Welcome, Mike.
0:49.7	Hey, thanks for having me back, Richard. Absolutely. All right, there's a lot to talk about. The two things I really want to get into are the DOJ when it comes to the NFL and Rusini and Rabel. You know, we'll start with Rusini and Brable because, like, that's sort of your piece is fresh in my mind. So I would advise anybody who's listening to this podcast. You might have to be a sportico subscriber for this,
1:11.3	but Michael McCann wrote a fascinating piece to me. He's the only person who actually,
1:15.6	in terms of all the content, the never-ending content of the Diane Rusini-Michael Ravel story,
1:20.5	actually looked at the legal implications of the story, and there are many, and they are fascinating.
1:27.0	As Michael McCann wrote, he said the photographs themselves are problematic, and there are many, and they are fascinating. As Michael McCann wrote, he said the photographs
1:29.7	themselves are problematic, and in many ways pose potential hurdles in workplace investigations.
1:36.3	One of those things is that the photographing of Vrable and Rusini could constitute illegal
1:42.4	invasions of the privacy of both, as Mike says. Again, I'm not a lawyer.
1:46.3	I'm just reading straight from his work, as well as the tort of intrusion upon seclusion,
1:50.5	which generally means that some kind of intrusion into the privacy of another can be construed
1:57.3	as harassment. And we'll get into specifically what all this means in the state of
2:02.1	Arizona. So here's where I want to start with you, Mike. In terms of that sort of privacy element,
2:08.2	which you spelled out, which was fascinating, how might that impact any investigation of
2:13.6	Diana Rusini or Mike Vrable by either the athletic or the Patriots or Diana
2:19.2	Rusini's previous employer ESPN.
2:21.7	Yeah, so one issue, as you just noted, Richard, is that these materials, the photos,
	...

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