Update on 1UP/ESPN roster article controversy
by 
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.
May 26, 2008 at 5:27 pm
[quote comment="22211"]this is an interesting dilemma. Zuniga was very wrong for writing about this guy without doing his research. I am a writer (Sports Editor for a newspaper) and know the dangers of not having all the facts before you got to print. But this shady character is in a weird spot.
Editing the rosters and selling memory cards with the rosters on it is not illegal, its just like someone giving you a free gift with purchase, a gift that was usually donated by a sponsor of some kind.
But he does have a major moral dilemma with the stealing, but without a copyright it might be hard for legal action to come against him for re-selling the items.
But I would totally suggest FK look into some form of monetary recourse, or sue him for a percentage of every memory card sold with your rosters on them, because since you did the work and the file was created by you, you should have some first-party rights to any money made off of it.[/quote]
His memory card purchase service is not illegal. If it weren’t for the outrageously high markup prices, it’d be a decent buy. But it’s the download service and mail-in service that is illegal. He’s not giving you anything but the roster file in both of those two services, and he’s making a profit off of it.
May 26, 2008 at 6:04 pm
[quote comment="22237"][quote comment="22211"]this is an interesting dilemma. Zuniga was very wrong for writing about this guy without doing his research. I am a writer (Sports Editor for a newspaper) and know the dangers of not having all the facts before you got to print. But this shady character is in a weird spot.
Editing the rosters and selling memory cards with the rosters on it is not illegal, its just like someone giving you a free gift with purchase, a gift that was usually donated by a sponsor of some kind.
But he does have a major moral dilemma with the stealing, but without a copyright it might be hard for legal action to come against him for re-selling the items.
But I would totally suggest FK look into some form of monetary recourse, or sue him for a percentage of every memory card sold with your rosters on them, because since you did the work and the file was created by you, you should have some first-party rights to any money made off of it.[/quote]
His memory card purchase service is not illegal. If it weren’t for the outrageously high markup prices, it’d be a decent buy. But it’s the download service and mail-in service that is illegal. He’s not giving you anything but the roster file in both of those two services, and he’s making a profit off of it.[/quote]
good point, there is a definite difference
May 26, 2008 at 8:40 pm
[quote comment="22173"]pretty sad that zuniga wouldnt even look into the background of the guy or that site before promoting it. though im not sure how much good that wouldve done since he incorrectly states ea bought the ncaa basketball license and supports that with a link to a rumor that was never shown to have any truth behind it[/quote]
Ya I’m still not sure why he posted a link to Pasta about NCAA basketball exlusive rights when it proved nothing that we already know?
May 26, 2008 at 9:28 pm
This ESPN article is ridiculous. Once again Kaldenburg you reap the benefits of an uneducated sports gaming community. Just know that your reign of lying, cheating, and stealing will be coming to an end soon enough. Oh and why don’t you try your hand at spamming the OS boards again, I would love to ban your sorry ass one more time.
May 27, 2008 at 6:26 am
Oh, wow Brian you sold 3 memory cards! That’s really exciting, Whenever i hear gamerosters again i am gonna so kick someones ***. Who even buys rosters? That’s just a ripoff. This Brian Kaldenass sucks balls.
May 27, 2008 at 6:38 am
It’s really me.
I’ve been posting, and blogging about this, and we’ll discuss this entire topic on 1up’s Sports Anomaly podcast this week–should make for some interesting chatter!
May 27, 2008 at 8:16 am
he think his business will live on because of people w/o xbox live, but the funny thing is if a person doesn’t have xbox live they normally don’t really care much about names on rosters.
May 27, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Definitely agree with you there Tigersfan. IIRC, 90% of 360 users have XBOX Live subscriptions…I could be wrong, but I thought I heard it somewhere. This guy’s cocky attitude has dug him a hole he won’t be able to dig out of.
I just love the fact that he threatens with lawyers and such when the NCAA can (and probably will with this publicity) sue him up the ass for good.
The best thing you can do is post it on every blog you know, every website you know, use words like “Free NCAA Football 09 Rosters” or “Do NOT pay for NCAA Football 09 Rosters” in your title to get traffic to educate people to not buy from this scumbag and thief. His posts on OS and here pretty much say it all, he lies and to quote myself, “Kaldenberg wouldn’t be worth the toilet paper I wipe my ass on”.
I think with the ESPN debacle, his days of getting by will come to an end.
May 27, 2008 at 3:32 pm
lol @ ESPN deleting all the comments that were on the article
http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/3373689
May 27, 2008 at 8:36 pm
[quote comment="22354"]lol @ ESPN deleting all the comments that were on the article
http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/3373689/quote
hehe
May 28, 2008 at 8:50 pm
You guys don’t worry, he’ll get his. Karma has a nice way of rearing it’s ugly head.
May 29, 2008 at 6:43 am
I love how he says in the 1up article that he started it in his “loft” at ISU.
I can only assume he means the loft of a barn that is the shithole of Aimes, Iowa.
May 29, 2008 at 5:53 pm
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/26078-Video-Games-Where-to-Get-FREE-NCAA-Football-2009-Rosters
I just wanted to post a link to my story I just wrong on Bleacher Report on where to get free rosters this NCAA season.
May 31, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I’ve already been endorsed by ESPN, there’s nothing you can do! Thanks for all the work with the rosters by the way, keep it up!
Brian Kaldenberg
Owner and CEO fkrosters.com and gamerosters.com
June 4, 2008 at 11:42 am
Have fun promoting your own demise douche.
June 4, 2008 at 11:45 am
Oh by the way Kaldenberg…where did you get errrrrr steal them Stadium Sounds from?
July 1, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Fairdale Kings supports free rosters?? Then how do you explain Gamerosters.com selling memory cards for $35 while Fairdale Kings sells memory cards for $40 + donation? How is Fairdale Kings offering FREE rosters if he is selling memory cards for $5 – $10 more?? Fairdale Kings is a fraud. He sells rosters that are created by other members at Operation Sports.
July 4, 2008 at 1:25 am
Last time I checked, it was FREE to download rosters from Fairdale Kings site.
July 4, 2008 at 11:33 am
Well check again because it is right on his site. Order memory cards for $40 + donation.
July 6, 2008 at 8:14 pm
fairdalethefraud – Learn how to read. If you already have a memory card, you can send it in to him and he will put the rosters on your card for FREE. And if you just simply want to download the rosters from his site, you can do that for FREE. You only have to pay if you want to buy a MEMORY CARD.
July 8, 2008 at 2:32 pm
It would be hilarious if everyone teamed up, didnt put out the rosters for a few months, and watched kaldenberg cry as his cheapskate business went down the crapper. If no one posts the rosters he cant get them. Maybe everyone should just cowboy up and live without rosters for a few months.
Btw the $ your making still wont make your fiancee hot.
July 11, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I think that it is unfair to criticize roters editors for wanting to get paid for there effort and hard work. I challenge anyone who has never done so to attempt to just enter the roster names of each team let alone do the research to achieve accuracy. It’s very tedious and time consuming work. If rosters weren’t that important then no one would buy them or download them at all. But they are a very important part of the gaming experience if your a real sports gamer. So if you purchase edited rosters, fine. If you download them for free, fine also. But don’t criticize the pepole who want to receive compensation for their hard work. The real crime is when someone takes a roster file that they did not edit and sells it for a profit. taht is the true crime.