Update on 1UP/ESPN roster article controversy

Update: Todd Zuniga has responded in the comments and now his blog. It is greatly appreciated, however much of the damage that has already been done by the original article can’t be corrected. I have edited my title though to reflect the current situation.

There have been long running issues that have come with the ability to edit roster files for NCAA games. For years now there have been those who have profited off the rosters, in many cases after having stolen them from someone else who did all of the work. Not only is it immoral, but with the NCAA licensing it is illegal to profit off of the names of amateur athletes.

Numerous websites have been created to solicit along with eBay having being another consistent place this occurs. Unsuspecting consumers have continually been ripped off. And it is no small “business”. The most active roster sellers have been known to rake in well over $50,000 off a game like NCAA Football which is the primary “seller”.

One of these scumbags is Brian Kaldenberg of gamerosters and now fkrosters (which he bought back in December). Not only is he a well known thief across the community having been shown to have stolen rosters numerous times in the past (which have been made by others through hundreds of hours of work) but he will even come right out and admit it. This was the case earlier today in postings on Operation Sports where he was throwing it in the face of everyone. Not to mention he has even been sued by the NCAA in the past.

Recently Todd Zuniga of 1UP irresponsibly featured Kaldenberg in an interview. This was then carried by ESPN Videogames which is driven by 1UP created content. It is extremely disappointing that these media outlets would support such an endeavor and the person behind it.

In the past this put at risk the actual ability to make player edits at all in NCAA branded games. It looks like now though with the addition of the EA Locker and 2K Share those will fill in by providing user created rosters for free and to anyone who has online access.

The important thing it to NEVER pay for rosters. There are places to get them for free even if you don’t have online access to download them through the EA Locker. Do anything you can to spread the word about the feature and prevent as many as possible from being duped into the roster scam by people like Kaldenberg. Hopefully the talk that has been ongoing over the past few years where the NCAA may agree to include named rosters will come to fruition in the future and put to bed the issue completely.