How Realistic Are the in-game Cities?

[Zarberg]

I have a question about the in-game cities. I know there's an XML file that's used with each new game that contains a city name, its population, and it's real-world latitude and longitude coordinates. Are these coordinates used to determine fan base that may conflict with geographically close other cities?

I.E. if I started a game that had a Manhattan, NY based team and later added a Brooklyn, NY based team, would those two compete for fans because of their latitude and longitude?

[Bluenoser]

No, lat & lon are there to determine placement of teams, like east/west division/conference.

Here's the quote from Andreas:

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

Longitude and latitude of cities are used in OOTP when you create a league. The divisions will be named northern, southern, eastern, western or central divisions and the teams will be assigned to the proper divisions depending on their geographical position.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Zarberg

I.E. if I started a game that had a Manhattan, NY based team and later added a Brooklyn, NY based team, would those two compete for fans because of their latitude and longitude?

No. Market sizes and fan bases are not based on geography in OOTP. They're based on the size of team payrolls and other factors like fan interest.

OOTP's financial system is not sophisticated enough to model something like you're suggesting.

[GMLoophole]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

No. Market sizes and fan bases are not based on geography in OOTP. They're based on the size of team payrolls and other factors like fan interest.

Wait, really? I thought it was the opposite, that market size/loyalty drove the fan interest. If it's the other way around, I've been setting up my leagues wrong I think.

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by GMLoophole

Wait, really? I thought it was the opposite, that market size/loyalty drove the fan interest. If it's the other way around, I've been setting up my leagues wrong I think.

I think they all interact to an extent. Fan interest drives attendance and merchandise revenue, and over long periods of time can also impact market size. Fluctuations in fan interest depend mostly on how well your team is performing on the field and player transactions, modified by fan loyalty.