Financials

[Scruff]

When setting up custom financials I noticed the following for market size

1- Minimal
2- Tiny
3- Small
4- Below Average
5- Average
6- Above Average
7- Rather Big
8- Big
9- Very Big
10- Huge
11-20 - Astronomical

I'm setting up independent minor leagues - starting with a AAA and eventually I'll add a AA and an A league. For minor leagues is market size determined relative to each other, or to the majors?

Example - If I have a league with 20 PA cities, is Philly "astronomical", Pittsburgh "huge" and Harrisburg "average"?

Or would Philly be "rather big", Pittsburgh "small" and Harrisburg "tiny"?

[goroyals]

I'm pretty sure it's relative to just the teams in the league. If I'm not mistaken, market size is just one of the modifiers that affects team attendence based on LEAGUE average attendence.

Makes sense too, think about it in terms of a modern day league. You'd have a few teams at the big sizes and then everyone from maybe AA down would be small or lower. In an independent league that doesn't reflect the sort of impact an additional 20 or 30K people in a market would have on sparse markets.

On a side note, I never start a team with a market size above 10. If a club gets to 11+ its because the game bumped 'em up.

[Charlie Hough]

Market sizes have nothing to do with city populations in OOTP. They are based initially on each major league team's payroll.

So, in a fictional league, if a team is based in Sioux Falls but is loaded with excellent players, their salaries will likely be quite high and the team's market will probably be one of the larger designations.

You can set up your own market sizes if you'd like, and they will evolve moving forward, but keep in mind that they will be based largely on the team's payroll, fan loyalty, and other factors, and never on the size of the local population.

[Scruff]

EDIT: Written before Charlie Hough

That's a big help.

Any idea of what the modifiers mean? Is tiny 1/5 of average? 1/2? 1/10?

Is huge 2x average? 5x average? Just wondering if there are any guidelines.

Basically I'm starting in 1871 so my markets are:

Majors

Manhattan 964530 Huge
Philadelphia 691337 Rather Big
Brooklyn 437878 Big
Chicago 319398 Average
St. Louis 314829 Average
Baltimore 273850 Below Average
Boston 261757 Below Average
Cincinnati 220129 Small

AAA

Buffalo 121456 Rather Big
Washington 113008 Rather Big
Newark 108204 Above Average
Louisville 103054 Average
Cleveland 99561 Average
Pittsburgh 93107 Below Average
Jersey City 86364 Below Average
Detroit 83253 Below Average

Does that seem about right?

[Scruff]

For an initial league if I set the market with the payrolls follow suit?

That is if I change a team from Average to Big will their payroll go up before the free agents are disbursed?

Or, if I adjust the payrolls, will the market sizes change?

[Déjà Bru]

I agree with what Charlie says but I still don't like the idea of a HUGE baseball market in Sioux Falls, sorry. So, what I do is to either reset market sizes to what they should be based roughly on metro area populations or, going 180 in the other direction, I set them all to average and remove the options that allow them to affect league financials. I still haven't decided which way is best for me.

Regarding your question, market size affects attendance, media, and merchandise revenue (if you allow the latter two). Raising and lowering market size has no immediate effect on the size of your payroll budget, either initially or later on. Having more revenue to spend may convince an owner to give you a bigger budget or, if you are in charge of everything, allow you to spend more money on free agents without going into the red.

[PhillieFever]

According to the online manual, market size means exactly that, the size of the market. For example, in my current MLB setup the Royals have an $85.9 million dollar payroll and a market size of 2, their market classification is "Tiny" The Astros on the other hand have a payroll of $22.6 million dollars and a market size of 7, their market classification is "Rather Big"

-As for your other question, if you plan on playing in all small towns, then yes you can set all of your markets in the tiny, small range its all up to you. Just remember to be consistent with all financial aspects of the game and you'll be fine(I haven't played fictional really so I can't help you set up a financial system from scratch, but I'm sure someone can)

[Bristolduke]

Market sizes don't easily change once set. I find the easiest way is to set them after the draft and then check each year if they have changed and reset them.