PSUColonel -
I'd be interested to know if you think the attached file fixes anything. It definitely is something to use with a test league though. I haven't tested it with v12 yet
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A while back, I made a bunch of changes to the financials.txt that got incorporated into ~ v9 as part of the official file. My goal was stability for sims that ran from 1901 to 2000, even though working toward that goal required some sacrifices. For example, the ratio of super star salary to scrub salary was always the same - even though that's not historically accurate. Attendance was also not historically accurate since variations up and down wreaked havoc on team revenue.
Since v9 I've kinda disappeared (finished school) and other folks have picked up the torch. Generally, they addressed other problems with the finances (like the salary ratios). My 0.02 is that there are so many moving pieces in the game's financial system -- a lot of which are opaque and not addressable in the file -- that making 1 "fix" stands to create other unintended issues. A good example of that is the media revenue. In practical terms, it provides a buffer. For historical accuracy, though, it should (and does in v12) start around 1920 and grow at a snails pace until 1980 or so. The issue with being historically accurate here is that it can push teams consistently into the red really easily if attendance drops off or they're in a small market. That's realistic, but not all that fun, and players don't adjust their expectations if all the teams in the league end up in that boat.
This file has revenues constantly rising at about 6% most of the time and tapers off at 1.5% growth. Salaries match that, and cash max is set at around 10% of expected gate + media revenue. The ratio of player type salaries starts out pretty even around 1901, shifts towards the better players a little through 1960, and toward the better players a bit more from 1960 to present. The key is that the player salaries are linked to the expected gate and media revenue.