Revisiting Fan Interest

BaseballATeam · 03-20-2026, 09:58 AM

I decided to try out the Athletics for my first 27 sim. John Fisher said, "save us from the ignominy of disinterested fans."

I...did my best. The attached image demonstrates as much. The team is winning, they're happy, they just defeated the White Sox(!) in the ALDS. Interest is...52. A green result!

On the one hand, that's more than double where it started. On the other hand, 21 of the 27 points I gained were from the Build a Charity quest (which I REALLY can't afford but decided to do for the owner goal). For reaching the postseason, I got 0 points of Interest. For winning the ALDS...nil points.

irl, today's Angels fans are probably a good example of a 25-Interest fan base. If they clinched the second seed in the AL and won a playoff series, fan interest would be at 100. It should be exceedingly rare for a playoff team to have less than 90 interest.

I propose making fan interest more dynamic and responsive to in-season team performance. Winning streaks over 5 games could add one point per win. Losing streaks could do the same in the negative. Injuries to key players might hurt interest. Clinching the playoffs should be like +10 points. Winning a playoff series +25. Losing, -15.

The Loyalty category can modify these. The A's have "pathetic" loyalty, so it would stand to reason that they might drop from 100 to 65 if I lose in the ALCS. That interest I generated isn't durable. But, it doesn't pass a smell test that the fan base is uninterested in tuning in to a winning playoff team.

kidd_05_u2 · 03-20-2026, 10:14 AM

Have you ever taken a look at this?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/t...K/attend.shtml

kidd_05_u2 · 03-20-2026, 10:20 AM

Look at the Minnesota Twins in their 101-win season, less attendance per game than they had six years earlier in a 96-loss season.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/t...N/attend.shtml

Everybody wants fan interest to see huge jumps for every winning season. OOTP does it right because it doesn't work like that.

Edit: I say OOTP does it right because fan interest shouldn't swing around wildly for certain teams. However, there are other things that don't work well. A charity raising fan interest permanently is stupid.

snepp · 03-20-2026, 11:26 AM

Gotta disagree, there have to be limits to how wildly fan interest is allowed to swing because in "the real" it just doesn't work like that.

One of the better changes they made (imo), either 24 or 25, was to reduce/cap the impact of the short-term temporary modifier that's used for interest, making season-to-season attendance variations far more reasonable.

Ratbelly · 03-20-2026, 11:40 AM

I look at fan interest as more of a long term build up. Every team will sell out their stadium in the playoffs, but fan bases that don't support their team will revert back to usual attendance numbers the next season. Consistently building a winner or getting star players (fan favorites) will build this over time.

millhousebc · 03-20-2026, 12:32 PM

Agree with Ratbelly...the slow build to gain the fans interest back seems to make more sense. Maybe the spike when signing a high value Fa, but that spike should drop quicker if teams doesn't meet expectations

03-20-2026, 09:58 AM	#1
BaseballATeam Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 144	Revisiting Fan Interest I decided to try out the Athletics for my first 27 sim. John Fisher said, "save us from the ignominy of disinterested fans." I...did my best. The attached image demonstrates as much. The team is winning, they're happy, they just defeated the White Sox(!) in the ALDS. Interest is...52. A green result! On the one hand, that's more than double where it started. On the other hand, 21 of the 27 points I gained were from the Build a Charity quest (which I REALLY can't afford but decided to do for the owner goal). For reaching the postseason, I got 0 points of Interest. For winning the ALDS...nil points. irl, today's Angels fans are probably a good example of a 25-Interest fan base. If they clinched the second seed in the AL and won a playoff series, fan interest would be at 100. It should be exceedingly rare for a playoff team to have less than 90 interest. I propose making fan interest more dynamic and responsive to in-season team performance. Winning streaks over 5 games could add one point per win. Losing streaks could do the same in the negative. Injuries to key players might hurt interest. Clinching the playoffs should be like +10 points. Winning a playoff series +25. Losing, -15. The Loyalty category can modify these. The A's have "pathetic" loyalty, so it would stand to reason that they might drop from 100 to 65 if I lose in the ALCS. That interest I generated isn't durable. But, it doesn't pass a smell test that the fan base is uninterested in tuning in to a winning playoff team. Attached Images

03-20-2026, 10:20 AM	#3
kidd_05_u2 All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 620	Look at the Minnesota Twins in their 101-win season, less attendance per game than they had six years earlier in a 96-loss season. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t...N/attend.shtml Everybody wants fan interest to see huge jumps for every winning season. OOTP does it right because it doesn't work like that. Edit: I say OOTP does it right because fan interest shouldn't swing around wildly for certain teams. However, there are other things that don't work well. A charity raising fan interest permanently is stupid. Last edited by kidd_05_u2; 03-20-2026 at 10:23 AM.

03-20-2026, 11:40 AM	#5
Ratbelly Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 175	I look at fan interest as more of a long term build up. Every team will sell out their stadium in the playoffs, but fan bases that don't support their team will revert back to usual attendance numbers the next season. Consistently building a winner or getting star players (fan favorites) will build this over time. __________________

03-20-2026, 10:14 AM	#2
kidd_05_u2 All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 620	Have you ever taken a look at this? https://www.baseball-reference.com/t...K/attend.shtml

03-20-2026, 11:26 AM	#4
snepp All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,818	Gotta disagree, there have to be limits to how wildly fan interest is allowed to swing because in "the real" it just doesn't work like that. One of the better changes they made (imo), either 24 or 25, was to reduce/cap the impact of the short-term temporary modifier that's used for interest, making season-to-season attendance variations far more reasonable.

03-20-2026, 12:32 PM	#6
millhousebc Major Leagues Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 332	Agree with Ratbelly...the slow build to gain the fans interest back seems to make more sense. Maybe the spike when signing a high value Fa, but that spike should drop quicker if teams doesn't meet expectations