Fictional Finances -- Tricky, tricky...

[jaysdailydose]

OK, so I *thought* I was done with testing my new insanely large fictional league after about 4 days.

*BBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOM* <--- that is OOTP smacking me in the head for being so foolish.

I have a 48 team major league... by the start of the second regular season, I have some free agents signed above 35M-40M per year...

Now, I've figured out why, and I think I *may* have figured out the solution... but I think perhaps this should be changed for future versions because I doubt anyone else would have the patience I would...

When I do the 48 team league, I'm trying it now with either a .600 or a .800 coeffecient...obviously, I could just let the financials fall where they may as it wasn't causing teams to go bust.

The problem is, if you want to run an "MLB-style" fictional league, but with many more teams, you have to adjust for all that extra cash available in the league. The players are seeing all the cash in the league and dollar signs start flying. Is this just me? I shouldn't necessarily say "cash" but available budget.

[endgame]

I understand. I run a 48 team as well and, having run large leagues before, set the coefficient to app. .30 or less and adjusted salaries further in the setup. 3rd year and the highest paid players tip the 17mil a year mark, just the way I like it. Cash is set at app. 30mil or less. So far, so good. FWIW

[jaysdailydose]

Originally Posted by endgame

I understand. I run a 48 team as well and, having run large leagues before, set the coefficient to app. .30 or less and adjusted salaries further in the setup. 3rd year and the highest paid players tip the 17mil a year mark, just the way I like it. Cash is set at app. 30mil or less. So far, so good. FWIW

I'm going to test the setup at a .600 co-efficient, but it feels "weak." Here's my rationale...

If I'm adding 18 teams to a 30 team league, I'm making the league 60% bigger... so, since it doesn't "default" to keep the teams on the same salary level as a smaller league with the same finances, I'm using the .60 to simulate "sixty percent of the money available."

Obviously, this isn't truly the case, but it did appear to do wonders for my sanity on the original test and I'll probably settle in somewhere between .60 and .80...

Either that, or I'll just let it run and say "Them's the breaks, this isn't your daddy's MLB, it's the USB!"

[chucksabr]

Are you manually setting the salaries on the financials page, or just adjusting coefficients and letting the chips fall where they may?

[jaysdailydose]

Originally Posted by chucksabr

Are you manually setting the salaries on the financials page, or just adjusting coefficients and letting the chips fall where they may?

I have a general setup that I have used in all other leagues which works masterfully... all the credit goes to Orcin, but I generally use:

National Media: $20M (all teams get same)
Local Media: $25M
Merch: $10M
Cash Max: $8M

I either use $8 or $10M for cash max, but have toyed with different settings over the past few days as far as that goes. Here's my salary and development settings:

Dev: $8M
Scouting: $5M
Coaches: $250K
Minimum: $450K
Super Star: $18M
Star: $12M
Good: $8M
Above Average: $6M
Average: $4M
Below Average: $1.5M
Fair: $800K
Poor: $600K

Refresh of the financials indicates a $90M average payroll with right around $135M in total revenues.

All my research tends to indicate that these higher contracts are the result of so much extra cash entering the league... trying to figure out ways to combat that now. I've messed around with the revenue sharing models, but its not really giving me the results I like.

I think the co-efficients are going to be my best bet -- but it is a fictional universe, so if it winds up that the best way to go is just with the chips falling as they may, then that will be what I'll do.

But, writing a story on something, its imperative that I'm as well setup for the long run as possible. That's why I haven't posted my first update in that thread past the backstory/setup point.

[jaysdailydose]

I did a "final" test of my league last night when I went to bed, after starting my "real" league and getting things going. I've just hit my first $30M salary in 2025 with the coefficient at .600 with my settings. I'm happy with how that works out for me.