Financial Settings..What if?

[PSUColonel]

What will happen to my league financially if I go and enter actual MLB financials in terms of ticket prices (avg.) as well as salaries (e.g. superstars = 20 million a year, and so on) Will this have an adverse affect on my universe?, or will things fall into place? I am trying to make my league as close to real life as possible, and obviously the MLB quick start doesn't really reflect this.

[PSUColonel]

Why am I getting the feeling the general consensus is: "I've never tried it, and I wouldn't if I were you...stick to the defaults even if they are a bit off from the MLB to ensure nothing goes wrong". If in fact there are new "optimal" settings for version 15...I don't think it would be such a terrible thing to release them to people now...after all they are just settings, and not new features. ��

[Ktulu]

It's impossible to say what will happen without any real details on what you're trying to do. The simple answer is that you need to make sure both sides of the revenue/expense equation work. Just a guess, but if you plan on simply plugging in real life average ticket prices things aren't going to work out too well.

You can answer your own question in the financial setup page, where the game provides you estimates on what's likely to happen based on your settings.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

What will happen to my league financially if I go and enter actual MLB financials in terms of ticket prices (avg.) as well as salaries (e.g. superstars = 20 million a year, and so on) Will this have an adverse affect on my universe?, or will things fall into place?

I would guess your clubs would be swimming in excess cash as OOTP does not recreate the various additional expenses real-world clubs have which eat up revenue.

[bk2bkjks]

I actually changed the avg ticket price for all the teams to the avg price for each team I found on some website. when I was done and played a day it went back to the avg's before I made the change.

Not playing in commish mode may have been the reason.....maybe if all teams were human controlled they would stay.

I would like to be able to change them and have them stay changed. No reason all teams should have an avg ticket price of 22.50 +/- .25

[PSUColonel]

Financials is a part of OOTP that desperately needs updating and streamlining. (this along with staff and stadiums) I know Markus wants to keep things a little easier for the laymen, but I feel if we are going to have a true GM simulation....this is a must....it is this type of things that separates OOTP from The Show, and other baseball games. This should not be considered a game, but rather a simulation for GM's in training.


EDIT: One step at a time though...Rome was not conquered in a day. Hopefully graphics and Steam will lead to sales, and those profits are then invested into doing just this. Then...we will have broad appeal.

[dward1]

I disagree with making financials more complicated. paying staff, scouts, and players are enough. maybe extend to buying stadiums but I don't even think ticket price should be in the game. I don't think paying for the people who cut the grass, promotions, various janitors, apparel, etc should be part of the game. that's a lot of work to model how all that works for the very few who actually want to use that. that time could be better spent elsewhere IMO

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by dward1

I disagree with making financials more complicated. paying staff, scouts, and players are enough. maybe extend to buying stadiums but I don't even think ticket price should be in the game. I don't think paying for the people who cut the grass, promotions, various janitors, apparel, etc should be part of the game. that's a lot of work to model how all that works for the very few who actually want to use that. that time could be better spent elsewhere IMO

No doubt. If I had to set the price of a hot dog in the stands it would diminish the enjoyment factor for me.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by dward1

I don't think paying for the people who cut the grass, promotions, various janitors, apparel, etc should be part of the game. that's a lot of work to model how all that works for the very few who actually want to use that. that time could be better spent elsewhere IMO

No, those expenses need to be there, but they can be wholly abstracted, a line item in the financial statement along the lines of "team operations" or "stadium operations" or what have you (which is pretty much how real-world clubs classify those costs). Such expenses can be handled abstractly, largely an automatic deduction from revenue on the basis of the real-world historical average figures for such things. Doing so then brings the expenses in line with real-world data, thus making it much easier to see if the financial system is balanced as well as facilitating the use of real-world revenue figures with greater confidence since the values will properly balance.

Now, all that said, it's a fairly large overhaul to the current financial engine, and it needs a comprehensive proposal to flesh out all the details and related aspects. I've not sat down to make my attempt at writing such a proposal in part because it's such a large topic and it requires a lot work. It'd be a huge document...

[thehef]

Agree that LGO's suggested approach should be about as far as this aspect should be taken. Anything more and then - rather than moving towards a true GM simulation - you'd be moving in the direct of a CEO simulation. Not that there would be anything wrong with a true CEO sim, but in that type of environment the CEO (or owner or managing general partner or whatever) doesn't concern himself with much of anything that OOTP does, other than hiring (or hiring the person that hires) the GM, and perhaps giving his blessing to major moves.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

No doubt. If I had to set the price of a hot dog in the stands it would diminish the enjoyment factor for me.

Agree completely. We'd need free market meat vendors who supply various packaging and subjected to competitive bidding from all the GMs in the league.