Naming names with GameRosters.com
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Want real players in your college games? No luck, as there's no license for it in place. But one man has found a solution. Check out this Sports Game Guy Q&A interview with the creator of GameRosters.com, Brian Kaldenberg. He's all for saving you 100 hours...
Sports Game Guy: How long have you guys been doing roster updates?
Brian Kaldenberg: We have been editing rosters since 2004. I started GameRosters.com in my loft the summer going into my junior year at Iowa State University. Now we are in St. Louis and have an office and employees.
SGG: Do you only change names of players, or do you adjust stats, as well?
BK: We just add the names. We do not change the players' appearance or ability ratings. This way our rosters will work during online play.
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SGG: What takes longer: college football or college hoops roster updates?
BK: It usually takes 100-120 hours to edit the NCAA Football rosters. We do all 119 1A teams. For basketball it takes about 70 hours. For basketball we do all teams eligible for the NCAA Tournament. Football takes longer just because there is so much homework that goes into it. So many more players per team.
SGG: EA's signed an exclusive deal with the NCAA, so there'll be no College Hoops 2K9 -- will you continue to do roster updates for College Hoops 2K8 next year (basically updating it to a 2K9 game), or will you only update the latest games?
BK: We will only do rosters for games where we determine there is sufficient demand. We will probably only be doing March Madness 09 rosters since there won't be a College Hoops 2K9.
SGG: If 2K releases a full 32-team unlicensed title, would you do rosters for that, or do you just stick to the college sports? What about something like Pro Evolution Soccer?
BK: We just stick to college sports. For something like Pro Evolution Soccer we wouldn't rule it out -- we would just have to justify the effort based on demand.
SGG: I'm sure other sites do this sort of thing, what makes yours the best?
BK: Gamerosters.com prides itself on roster accuracy, expedient shipping and second to none customer service. We are in St. Louis so we are centrally located in the United States. Because of our location, our packages can be in California or New York usually within 2-4 business days. We use PayPal multi-order shipping so our customers are automatically e-mailed a tracking number so they can track their package. We hire extra roster editors to finish the rosters quickly-- usually within just days after the release and much sooner than our competitors. We also hire extra staff in July and August to keep up with the release date rush so we can process and ship orders as quickly as possible.
SGG: Also, if NCAA Football 09 hits on July 15 this year, when should we bang on your site's door, looking for rosters? Are there strategies you use to get the game sooner?
BK: We expect to have the rosters completed by July 20th if not sooner. For those itching for the NCAA 09 release, we will be offering a pre-sale from mid-April through the 4th of July. This is a great opportunity to save some coin on the sale, and have your roster shipped out with the very first shipment. We will also be offering a pre-sale for our mail-in and download services.
We've been known to get our hands on the game a few days early, but how we do it is our little secret.
Also, like years past we will again be giving away two free copies of NCAA Football 09. We will also be running the same promotion on our (recently acquired) fkrosters.com. People will be able to begin submitting for their chance to win starting April 11th.
