Rob Stone continued ESPN's recent run of working with blogs by granting and interview with Unprofessional Foul. The topics were US Soccer, US Soccer, Bill Simmons, US Soccer and broadcasting overseas games from Bristol.

What's your opinion of broadcasting games from the "Bristol Broom Closet"? I am staunchly opposed to it because it limits the broadcasters ability to point out things to only the things shown on screen and in replay. Plus, it doesn't give them a feel for the ambience of the stadium.

Trust me, if money was no object it wouldn’t be done. But sometimes you have to be reasonable with your expenses. I am not an executive, but I do know that UEFA was charging insane amounts of money to have a crew call games at the Euro venues. I have never called a game from a monitor, and I know it takes a special skill, and I think we all agree it’s best to be there live. But just having the Euros on our air was a major coup, and the suits at ESPN noticed how successful it was…it can only mean better things for soccer on TV at ESPN down the road.

Everyone knows my stance against not broadcasting on location, but that response seems pretty par for the course. I guess I really don't have a problem with the answer, but we're talking about ESPN here. This is the same network that, up until recently, was prepared to send about 30 people or so to Green Bay for a season opener. They can probably afford some broadcasting fees.

We are talking about Soccer though. Priorities people....priorities. Read the rest of that interview though....it's a good one.

Rob Stone's Not Broadcasting From The Bristol Broom Closet (Unprofessional Foul)