Financial Differences 2017 MLB vs Fictional

[PSUColonel]

I have noticed some differences between the 2017 MLB Roster set, and the MLB based fictional setup. Some of the cities and teams a wrong in the the fictional MLB setup, but that can easily be taken care of. I also noticed there are some differences in the financial setup. One of the the top of my head, is the national media contract amount. Firstly in the 2017 MLB set, the national media contract is shared (as it should be) and in the fictional it is not. Also, the amount entered in the national media contract in the 2017 MLB set is 40,000,000, wheras the fictional setup is set to 35,000,000. There are some other differences that I can't think of off the top of my head right now, but my question is: Are these differences intentional, and if so, why? If they are not intentional, I can easily fix these differences...but I don't want to do so until I know. I am looking to start a fictional MLB league (I believe the player ratings generated in the fictional to be superior) and I don't want it to have financial difficulties down the road, as some others have reported in the past.

Thanks for any input.

[Orcin]

I can't answer your basic question, but I think it would be wise to emulate the current MLB league financial structure. It has probably undergone more testing.

[Le Grande Orange]

I will point out that if you get revenue in OOTP to match (or nearly so) real-life revenue, player salaries will skyrocket because teams in OOTP only have roughly half the expenses real-life teams do.*

You have to decide: which do you want closest to real-life, club revenue or player salaries? You can't have both under OOTP's current financial model.

*Those other club expenses besides player salaries: minor league operations (10%-15% of total expenses); team operations (10%-15%); marketing and advertising (5%-10%); general and administrative (10%-15%). None of these expenses are really replicated under OOTP's financial model, not even abstractly.

[PSUColonel]

I would rather have realistic salaries....so what should I do be doing to ensure that? Keeping things as is?, or trying to reflect what is in the 2017 MLB roster set?

[PSUColonel]

I am going to give every team the same media contract (same as MLB) but I am wondering which factors will ensure realistic salaries?


I am also going to do an inaugural draft by city population...I am wondering what the salary baseline should be?? The default is usually 120 M although for some reason at times it is 130 million.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

I will point out that if you get revenue in OOTP to match (or nearly so) real-life revenue, player salaries will skyrocket because teams in OOTP only have roughly half the expenses real-life teams do.*

You have to decide: which do you want closest to real-life, club revenue or player salaries? You can't have both under OOTP's current financial model.

*Those other club expenses besides player salaries: minor league operations (10%-15% of total expenses); team operations (10%-15%); marketing and advertising (5%-10%); general and administrative (10%-15%). None of these expenses are really replicated under OOTP's financial model, not even abstractly.

Which factors determine the intended output? I am interested in having realistic salaries, but I am unsure which financial factors affect those salaries. As I stated, there are some differences between the default 2017 MLB Roster set, and defaults in an MLB style fictional setup.

[Bristolduke]

When you say you want realistic salaries, what does that mean? Current salaries are accurate? No inflation over the next x years?

You are comparing two set ups neither of which will prevent the salary skyrocket LGO indicates.

If you want to limit salary escalation, then expenses must = revenue at a league level. The two variables you have the most control over are the 2 media revenues. To affect current year those must be adjusted prior to league initiation.

As a note, the wider range you have the individual team revenues, the more difficult it will be to adequately control.

The "process" is to look at the generated league, see where the adjustments need to be made, then delete the league and create fresh. It may take a couple of tries.

[PSUColonel]

I understand there will be inflation...but I want it at a realistic rate, along with realistic player salary demands. I do not have inflation enabled, but from what I gather, it will happen anyway to some extent. I also am looking to avoid teams running out of money (I do NOT want to have to inject cash into teams' coffers) but at the same time, as I mentioned, I want player salary demands to be reasonably in line.

[Bristolduke]

Things I do at startup to limit inflation (I don't use the inflation option until at least 5 years in),

1) make ticket prices fixed and reduce them 10%
2) reduce national media by 50% (use applies to all teams option)

then it depends what MLB game you want. If you are taking all the real rosters, then after game initiation look at the spread of salaries and determine how to adjust the local media to ensure the revenue is similar. There is nothing you can do to affect these values you are setting them for next year. Re-check his just before the offseason process starts. Within 4 or 5 seasons you should have some balance in revenue that is stable.

If you want to go thru the initial draft process, then reduce the local media in half at setup. Set a draft budget per team. If you want a spread due to market size fine, however you don't want a spread greater than 3 top to bottom, so keep the budgets close. Again just before season roll over double check the league revenue.

Either way from top to bottom the revenue spread should not be less than 75-80%. Don't focus on team profits/losses, but rather league P/L. The AI will do strange things so a team could to outside what appears reasonable. Once stable the league will stay in at +/- P/L. At that point inflation can be turned on effectively. Keep in mind that any change in the financials will take time to stabilize (3-5 years) so constant changing is not going to achieve a result. It has to occur at the start but even there the better your initial analysis is the easier it will be to make the initial changes and let them run.

[PSUColonel]

Hmmm...interesting. So you don't feel the default settings produce a stable financial environment long term?

[Bristolduke]

I run numerous tests proving it doesn't. I know why and understand why it doesn't and I have published methods for setting up online leagues that can retain stability and competitiveness.

[Mister_G]

Originally Posted by Bristolduke

Things I do at startup to limit inflation (I don't use the inflation option until at least 5 years in),

1) make ticket prices fixed and reduce them 10%
2) reduce national media by 50% (use applies to all teams option)

then it depends what MLB game you want. If you are taking all the real rosters, then after game initiation look at the spread of salaries and determine how to adjust the local media to ensure the revenue is similar. There is nothing you can do to affect these values you are setting them for next year. Re-check his just before the offseason process starts. Within 4 or 5 seasons you should have some balance in revenue that is stable.

If you want to go thru the initial draft process, then reduce the local media in half at setup. Set a draft budget per team. If you want a spread due to market size fine, however you don't want a spread greater than 3 top to bottom, so keep the budgets close. Again just before season roll over double check the league revenue.

Either way from top to bottom the revenue spread should not be less than 75-80%. Don't focus on team profits/losses, but rather league P/L. The AI will do strange things so a team could to outside what appears reasonable. Once stable the league will stay in at +/- P/L. At that point inflation can be turned on effectively. Keep in mind that any change in the financials will take time to stabilize (3-5 years) so constant changing is not going to achieve a result. It has to occur at the start but even there the better your initial analysis is the easier it will be to make the initial changes and let them run.

What do you mean by a 75-80% spread?

[Bristolduke]

If the top team makes $100M in revenue, then the bottom team should make at least 75-80M. This needs to be checked each year, just before the season rolls over so you have a chance to fix if necessary.