Question for Fictional League Experts: Stadium Size

[Skywalker76]

Hi,

a Bourbon Trail Tour inspired me to create a Kentucky/Tennessee based league. Now to keep things at least semi-realistic I want stadiums rather in the 15-25K range.

Does this have any effect on my financial settings. Will teams run out of cash?

Thanks!

[sprague]

Originally Posted by Skywalker76

Hi,

a Bourbon Trail Tour inspired me to create a Kentucky/Tennessee based league. Now to keep things at least semi-realistic I want stadiums rather in the 15-25K range.

Does this have any effect on my financial settings. Will teams run out of cash?

Thanks!

all depends on your financial settings. if you have them set to normal modern baseball then things will get tough
my suggestions
1- find a historical year where the average attendance was around 18,000, I don't have my game in front of me, but just pull up some random years, like 1952, then 1957, then 1966...and keep going till you see you are close- then pick a year and copy those financials and play with them

2- if you don't want to do that then on your financials page input the league average attendance and ticket price you want, click reclac and see how teh numbers will go- you will likely have a -
so you will then have to start dropping saleries to match the lost income

Either way, i recommend once you think you have something you like, try a test league- same number of teams, ect- and let it sim for 20 years and see how the financials look. that will tell you then if your new totals are a bit low or a bit high. the simming i feel is the most important part of the process- unless you are comfortable going back and tweeking your financial settings every couple of years as you play- either will work

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Skywalker76

... I want stadiums rather in the 15-25K range.

In real life at least, park capacity is secondary to average attendance. In 1952, for example, the average per game MLB attendance was 11,810. The MLB average park capacity that same year was 41,478. So ballparks, on average, were only filled to about 28% of capacity. (Of course, from day to day there were variations. Weekend and holiday games, especially doubleheaders, typically came much closer to capacity than did single mid-week games.)

Not sure how well OOTP mimics this sort of real-life behaviour though.

[Righty Groove]

You could select, on the league settings in the Financials tab, the option "same contract for every team" on the National Media Contract.

If you set the contract high enough, it will pay for most of the expenses of every team. Then, a small stadium with normal ticket prices will be enough to still have a modern-day financial setting/salaries.

[Skywalker76]

Originally Posted by sprague

all depends on your financial settings. if you have them set to normal modern baseball then things will get tough
my suggestions
1- find a historical year where the average attendance was around 18,000, I don't have my game in front of me, but just pull up some random years, like 1952, then 1957, then 1966...and keep going till you see you are close- then pick a year and copy those financials and play with them

I really like that idea and will try that out tonight. Thanks!

[Skywalker76]

How do others do this, in regards to having a fictional league in a smaller world settings?

[snepp]

When I run regional leagues with smaller stadiums and such I usually use smaller financials to accompany them, so sprague's suggestions is what I typically do.

My current league has stadium capacities that run from 16k to 23k, and I selected mid-50's financials. Average attendance per game in the league setup is 15k. Actual average attendance per game for the entire league ends up around 16.5k per game, which works out to roughly 75% of capacity for the league as a whole.

[Skywalker76]

Originally Posted by snepp

When I run regional leagues with smaller stadiums and such I usually use smaller financials to accompany them, so sprague's suggestions is what I typically do.

My current league has stadium capacities that run from 16k to 23k, and I selected mid-50's financials. Average attendance per game in the league setup is 15k. Actual average attendance per game for the entire league ends up around 16.5k per game, which works out to roughly 75% of capacity for the league as a whole.

I will try this out then. Thanks!

[Skywalker76]

Originally Posted by snepp

When I run regional leagues with smaller stadiums and such I usually use smaller financials to accompany them, so sprague's suggestions is what I typically do.

My current league has stadium capacities that run from 16k to 23k, and I selected mid-50's financials. Average attendance per game in the league setup is 15k. Actual average attendance per game for the entire league ends up around 16.5k per game, which works out to roughly 75% of capacity for the league as a whole.

I will try this out then. Thanks!

[The Game]

I only read the OP and the 1st response.
Market size is the only thing that matters. I live in a town with a population of 3,000. My park holds 5,000. My Market size is 8. I have been #2 in attendance 12 yrs in a row, behind a Chicago team. Setting a year when attendance was whatever # is pointless.
My White Sox market size is 6 Cubs are a 9. I have never outdrawn the Cubs even if I have a better team then them the last 5 yrs.

[snepp]

The attendance setting certainly does matter.

If the average attendance in the league setup is at 30,000, and all of the parks are at capacity of 15-20, every team will effectively be guaranteed to sell out every game.