Shorter Schedule Finances

CaptainSuperman · 02-04-2023, 09:52 PM

I'm looking to create a fictional league that mostly mirror's the MLB, but am wanting to set the number of games to 56. I'm worried about the effect this will have on the financials, specifically team budgets and player salaries, as less games = less gate revenue, correct? I know not all money comes solely from that, but it makes we wonder if I should mess with player salaries or possibly the media contracts, or maybe just leave it all alone.

Then if the info helps, I plan on doing a fictional inaugural fantasy draft, with all created players set to 0 service time, as I believe that gives them the 'auto' contract for the first few years before they need contract extensions with the big salaries.

sprague · 02-05-2023, 01:19 AM

Just reduce everything by 1/3 then it all stays to the same percent.
12 000000 becomes 4 000000 and so on

Bobfather · 02-05-2023, 02:03 PM

The other issue eventually may be what players ask for in salery. They may still base it on 162 games.

rleb · 02-05-2023, 02:41 PM

Agreed with the responses above - you'll essentially want to cut down everything about the league finances (money-wise) to 1/3rd.

That would include things like :
- Cash maximum
- National/Local Media Contracts
- Merchandising (in theory, fans only have 1/3rd the chance to buy merch with a shorter season)
- The 'typical salary' brackets would need to also be cut down to 1/3rd - if minimum wage is ~500k, then you would want to set it at roughly ~170k etc.
- Coach salary baseline

A few other things to consider :
- if you plan to have a shorter season in terms of days, you would want to reduce the 'Minimum days of service' to achieve 1 year. I don't remember how many days it normally is, I believe it's 172 days and a regular season lasts roughly ~180-182 days. So, you can calculate the ratio and base it on how many days your league will run for, to achieve the same thing. Otherwise, in a few seasons, you will run into a situation where players are unable to accumulate service years.

Example, my league's season lasts ~110 days, so I set my 1-year service days to a more generous 90 days (according to math, I probably 'should' have set it at ~100-103 days, but went with 90).

- You might want to adjust your trade deadline date to better fit your particular schedule.

- Same with your 'Roster expansion' date, if you are using that rule.

Things to keep the same :
- Ticket prices baseline
- Attendance baseline
- ...anything else that is more of a 'per game' metric.

Other non-financial items that might be good to update with a shorter season :
- Spring training. If you keep it at the default 4 weeks, you will find your spring training will be 50% the length of your regular season. Example, my league is 96 games, and I use 2 weeks of Spring ball.

- Personally, you might also find it beneficial to reduce your spring training roster size "IF" you do shorten your spring training schedule. Otherwise, there would be no way for you to successfully analyze all players if they play less games.

Some of these might or might not apply to your league, but I hope it helps!

Matt Arnold · 02-05-2023, 02:41 PM

It's a good case to use the preview on the finances page to make sure things line up roughly, at least. There's also a button that people probably don't even know exists on the page there at the top left called "mass adjust current financial values", which you can use to have the game auto-scale the financial values quickly. Keep in mind most financial numbers are based on a full season, so you also have to make sure everything like draft slot value, IAFA limits, qualifying offer, etc... are set correctly. The mass adjust button should update those. You can always use that to scale all the numbers down, and then just manually bump back up the ticket prices to compensate.

Re: fantasy draft - keep in mind if everyone is set to 0 service, then everyone in the league will make the min for a few years, so no teams are really going to be spending on that. It is usually best to keep the players spaced out in service time to not overly skew things.

The other thing I would always suggest in a case like this is to backup the league and run a full season sim and just look at what the numbers look like for teams at the end of the year.

The other option would be to keep salaries at roughly the current levels, but just double or triple the ticket prices. Playoff revenues would also go up, so you might not necessarily want to jump them to 90$, but if you want player salaries to look "normal" that would be an option too. Or you could always do that balance along with other options (ie. you can cut everything in half, but put ticket prices up to 40 or 50$). Again, I would suggest at least taking the preview finances as at least a guideline, although those numbers are sometimes off so it is best to run a little test on any big changes.

CaptainSuperman · 02-05-2023, 08:55 PM

Thank you guys for the replies! I'm still somewhat new, I've spent most of my time in OOTP messing with fictional leagues, but have largely kept financials close to what they are when you start up a standard MLB game. So using the refresh button to get that preview was new to me.

My league is somewhat modeled after NFL/college football. Having fewer games makes them more meaningful, so maybe higher ticket prices would already fit my league. My 56 games are going to be played out 2 games a week across 28 weeks with a very limited 4-team playoff. And maybe I'll have to play around with service time, I just personally find it odd to see guys in the inaugural year already have 20M contracts that should you sign them you have to pay, as opposed to drafting and then signing. But that's my own issue and I'm sure I can find a way to reconcile that in my headcanon.

But seriously thanks again, I was at a standstill on what to do and how to continue, but this has given me direction on how to procede. Appreciate you guys!

02-04-2023, 09:52 PM	#1
CaptainSuperman Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 9	Shorter Schedule Finances I'm looking to create a fictional league that mostly mirror's the MLB, but am wanting to set the number of games to 56. I'm worried about the effect this will have on the financials, specifically team budgets and player salaries, as less games = less gate revenue, correct? I know not all money comes solely from that, but it makes we wonder if I should mess with player salaries or possibly the media contracts, or maybe just leave it all alone. Then if the info helps, I plan on doing a fictional inaugural fantasy draft, with all created players set to 0 service time, as I believe that gives them the 'auto' contract for the first few years before they need contract extensions with the big salaries.

02-05-2023, 02:03 PM	#3
Bobfather All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Boston Ma. Posts: 1,643	The other issue eventually may be what players ask for in salery. They may still base it on 162 games. __________________ I play out every game—one pitch mode.

02-05-2023, 02:41 PM	#4
rleb Major Leagues Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 311	Agreed with the responses above - you'll essentially want to cut down everything about the league finances (money-wise) to 1/3rd. That would include things like : - Cash maximum - National/Local Media Contracts - Merchandising (in theory, fans only have 1/3rd the chance to buy merch with a shorter season) - The 'typical salary' brackets would need to also be cut down to 1/3rd - if minimum wage is ~500k, then you would want to set it at roughly ~170k etc. - Coach salary baseline A few other things to consider : - if you plan to have a shorter season in terms of days, you would want to reduce the 'Minimum days of service' to achieve 1 year. I don't remember how many days it normally is, I believe it's 172 days and a regular season lasts roughly ~180-182 days. So, you can calculate the ratio and base it on how many days your league will run for, to achieve the same thing. Otherwise, in a few seasons, you will run into a situation where players are unable to accumulate service years. Example, my league's season lasts ~110 days, so I set my 1-year service days to a more generous 90 days (according to math, I probably 'should' have set it at ~100-103 days, but went with 90). - You might want to adjust your trade deadline date to better fit your particular schedule. - Same with your 'Roster expansion' date, if you are using that rule. Things to keep the same : - Ticket prices baseline - Attendance baseline - ...anything else that is more of a 'per game' metric. Other non-financial items that might be good to update with a shorter season : - Spring training. If you keep it at the default 4 weeks, you will find your spring training will be 50% the length of your regular season. Example, my league is 96 games, and I use 2 weeks of Spring ball. - Personally, you might also find it beneficial to reduce your spring training roster size "IF" you do shorten your spring training schedule. Otherwise, there would be no way for you to successfully analyze all players if they play less games. Some of these might or might not apply to your league, but I hope it helps! __________________ Former GM, New Orleans Trendsetters PEBABaseball.com Pro Baseball in Atlantic Canada? Yup! Follow the fictional Atlantic Baseball League! goldensailsbaseball.ca Watch on YouTube! Last edited by rleb; 02-05-2023 at 02:44 PM.

02-05-2023, 01:19 AM	#2
sprague All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,947	Just reduce everything by 1/3 then it all stays to the same percent. 12 000000 becomes 4 000000 and so on

02-05-2023, 02:41 PM	#5
Matt Arnold OOTP Developer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Here and there Posts: 15,834	It's a good case to use the preview on the finances page to make sure things line up roughly, at least. There's also a button that people probably don't even know exists on the page there at the top left called "mass adjust current financial values", which you can use to have the game auto-scale the financial values quickly. Keep in mind most financial numbers are based on a full season, so you also have to make sure everything like draft slot value, IAFA limits, qualifying offer, etc... are set correctly. The mass adjust button should update those. You can always use that to scale all the numbers down, and then just manually bump back up the ticket prices to compensate. Re: fantasy draft - keep in mind if everyone is set to 0 service, then everyone in the league will make the min for a few years, so no teams are really going to be spending on that. It is usually best to keep the players spaced out in service time to not overly skew things. The other thing I would always suggest in a case like this is to backup the league and run a full season sim and just look at what the numbers look like for teams at the end of the year. The other option would be to keep salaries at roughly the current levels, but just double or triple the ticket prices. Playoff revenues would also go up, so you might not necessarily want to jump them to 90$, but if you want player salaries to look "normal" that would be an option too. Or you could always do that balance along with other options (ie. you can cut everything in half, but put ticket prices up to 40 or 50$). Again, I would suggest at least taking the preview finances as at least a guideline, although those numbers are sometimes off so it is best to run a little test on any big changes.

02-05-2023, 08:55 PM	#6
CaptainSuperman Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 9	Thank you guys for the replies! I'm still somewhat new, I've spent most of my time in OOTP messing with fictional leagues, but have largely kept financials close to what they are when you start up a standard MLB game. So using the refresh button to get that preview was new to me. My league is somewhat modeled after NFL/college football. Having fewer games makes them more meaningful, so maybe higher ticket prices would already fit my league. My 56 games are going to be played out 2 games a week across 28 weeks with a very limited 4-team playoff. And maybe I'll have to play around with service time, I just personally find it odd to see guys in the inaugural year already have 20M contracts that should you sign them you have to pay, as opposed to drafting and then signing. But that's my own issue and I'm sure I can find a way to reconcile that in my headcanon. But seriously thanks again, I was at a standstill on what to do and how to continue, but this has given me direction on how to procede. Appreciate you guys!