[Bobfather]

Originally Posted by Kilborn

Team has 4 nationally extremely popular players, 7 locally extremely popular. Team leads its division by 7+ games, has the best Starting Pitching in the American League and hits the 3rd-most HRs. Season is entering the last 6 weeks, and team is in position to have a first-round bye.

And fan interest drops. SMH. That aspect of OOTP is broken.

***

If there's any aspect of OOTP that I don't like, it's the "fan interest" aspect and the immense effect it can have on a team's finances due to drops or elevations in season tickets and single-game ticket purchases.

The scenario above is happening right now with my team in a long-running online league (since 2014). But it is far from the only issue.

Others include:
- Team 1 trades some excellent prospects for an "extremely popular" player, who instead of matching his usual .300/35 HR performance, turns in 2 seasons of .220/10HR before taking his player option and leaving the team. The prospects traded away win rookie of the year and make the all-star team. In real life, the fans would probably carry the suitcase for that player to leave. In OOTP, when he signs with another team, fan interest drops by 6-8 points, or more.

- Lazy player refuses to negotiate with the team as free agency approaches, but he's popular, and when he signs with another team, Team 1 loses fan interest. IRL it probably wouldn't affect a lot since he made clear he wasn't going to sign.

-Team 1 is in a playoff race and trades for a player on an expiring contract to help with the playoff race. He's popular, and fan interest spikes "amazing"ly. Team makes the playoffs and has a decent playoff run. But after the playoffs, that player's contract expires and he leaves the team. Fan interest "crashes" despite the clear understanding that the player was a "rental".

-Team 1 has a long-time player they want to sign long-term and make a team player for life. But to stay, the player wants a contract twice the value of other players with his age and performance... no "hometown discount" from him! If the team doesn't sign him due to his outrageous demands, and he goes elsewhere, fan interest "crashes".

There is some amount of leeway with these things, but this aspect of the OOTP engine needs work. Rentals shouldn't destroy the popularity of the rest of the team. A popular player who comes in and is below average after a great player is traded away (Harold Baines for Sammy Sosa, anyone?) shouldn't cause the fan base to lose interest when he leaves, as half the fandom would be glad to see him leave. A player's refusal to stay or essential refusal (via exorbitant contract demands) would be available to the public IRL and the fan base wouldn't crash when they leave.

Here's hoping this aspect gets fixed sometime in the NEAR future.

O completely agree. Also, team 1 trades Popular player interest goes down but receives popular player (same trade) and interest goes up 2 separate messages. The problem is nothing is put in context with AI.