English Football Pyramid Inspired Quickstart

[PixelHero]

I have always been fascinated by the European football model, especially promotion / relegation, and I wanted to create an OOTP universe based on this concept. This quick‑start file contains 164 teams and attempts to model the top six tiers of the English football pyramid. Teams participate in a regular season amongst their current tier, and then have a chance to participate in a 64-team association cup based on tier and table placement during the regular season. At the conclusion of each season, teams are promoted/relegated based on the previous season table position.

The quickstart file can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qq9...ew?usp=sharing

The English Football Pyramid consists of six tiers which are as follows:

• Premier League – 20 teams – 95 game regular season (five-game series vs. each opponent)
• Championship League – 24 teams – 92 game regular season (four-game series vs. each opponent)
• League One – 24 teams – 92 game regular season (four-game series vs. each opponent)
• League Two – 24 teams – 92 game regular season (four-game series vs. each opponent)
• National League – 24 teams – 92 game regular season (four-game series vs. each opponent)
• Non-League – 48 teams – 94 game regular season (two-game series vs. each opponent)

While there are no playoffs (to match the European football model) teams are promoted/relegated based on the final regular season table as follows:

• Premier League – Bottom three teams drop to the Championship.
• Championship – Top three teams rise to the Premier League; bottom three fall to League One.
• League One – Top three teams rise to the Championship; bottom four drop to League Two.
• League Two – Top four teams rise to League One; bottom four fall to the National League.
• National League – Top four teams rise to League Two; bottom two drop to Non‑League.
• Non‑League – Top two teams rise to the National League.

At the conclusion of each season an association tournament modeled after the FA Cup is run with 64 teams participating in six round knockout style (best of 7) bracket to decide the English football champion for the year. Participants in this tournament are as follows:

• 20 Premier League teams
• 24 Championship League teams
• Top 8 League One Teams
• Top 6 League Two Teams
• Top 4 National League Teams
• Top 2 Non-League Teams

The league reputation and finances of each tier is structured to ensure that the top of the pyramid contains the highest payroll and attracts the best players. Premier League teams have an average revenue of $229 million, with each tier seeing a reduction of about ½ of the tier above all the way down to the Non-league which sees teams earning an average revenue of $7 million.

In terms of amateur players entering the league, each tier runs its own draft consisting of all teams currently at that level. The player modifiers are adjusted to ensure that the talent available in each draft is proportional to the level. The universe does not make use of minor league rosters with each team maintaining a reserve roster instead.

I have the most fun with this setup starting with a non-league team and working on climbing the ladder with the ultimate goal of achieving promotion to the premier league. It also can be quite enjoyable to attempt to compete in the FA Cup as a lower tier team, forced to compete against teams much higher up in the pyramid with much more financial resources to work with. The tiered system also creates interesting stories as players move up and down the levels. It is fun to follow young stars who may start at lower levels before ending up playing in the Premier league or alternatively watching Premier league stars of old regress and take roles on teams at lower levels.

I have tried to check most things over to make sure there are no oddities in the quick-start but please let me know if you see anything off. I am sure this quick-start is far from perfect but figured someone else other than myself might get some enjoyment from it.

[kidd_05_u2]

Thanks for sharing!