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The Team Financial Model
You can covet that 5-star starter all you want, but if you've burned through your budget already, you're going to have to covet from afar. A general manager needs to be savvy with the team's wallet as well as with his eye for talent. OOTP's financial model has some flexible options, and it's important to understand how they work if you want to be effective. This section of the online manual will give a little more insight into how the team financial model works in OOTP. Note: Be aware that in some cases, the financial and contract models of OOTP do not precisely match their real-world counterparts!
There is a lot of information on this page, so we have broken it into the following distinct sections:
Teams spend money in just five ways:
A team's balance sheet at the end of a season is easily calculated as the sum of revenue items minus the sum of expense items. The best place to view this information is on the Finances sub-screen of the Front Office area.
If the team owner controls the budget, then each season you are given a specific budget to work with. In this scenario, the budget is decided arbitrarily by your owner. Different owners might create different-sized budgets. This amount is shown under the Current Budget field on the Budget Information section of the Finances page.
If you choose not to have an owner control the budget, then you can spend up to your team's entire revenue. This amount is shown under the Current Budget field on the Budget Information section of the Finances page. However, you still report to the owner, and can be fired for financial irresponsibility, unless you are the commissioner or you have the "cannot be fired" box checked in Manager Options.
There is a lot of information on this page, so we have broken it into the following distinct sections:
- Enabling/Disabling the Financial Model
- Financial Model Overview
- Influencing Finances
- Spending Limits
Enabling or Disabling the Financial Model
First off, if you just want to play baseball and could care less about financials, you can actually disable the entire financial model at any time on a league-by-league basis. This can be done during game creation in the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. After game creation, this can be done by navigating to OOTP Menu >> Game Setup >> League Setup >> Rules tab >> Financial Rules section. Note, however, that after game creation the financial system can only be turned on/off during the preseason.
Financial Model Overview
OOTP's fiscal year runs from the day after the playoffs end through the last day of the playoffs in the following season. A team in OOTP derives revenue from seven sources:- Gate revenue, derived from regular season ticket sales
- Media revenue
- Merchandising revenue
- Playoff revenue, derived from playoff ticket sales (only if applicable)
- Revenue sharing (only if applicable)
- Owner infusion of cash (only if applicable)
- Cash received from trades (only if applicable)
Teams spend money in just five ways:
- Player expenses (salaries)
- Staff expenses (salaries)
- Cash given in trades (only if applicable)
- Scouting (only if applicable)
- Revenue sharing (only if applicable)
A team's balance sheet at the end of a season is easily calculated as the sum of revenue items minus the sum of expense items. The best place to view this information is on the Finances sub-screen of the Front Office area.
Influencing Your Team's Finances
General managers have some influence on team finances. Let's run down the list of revenue and expense items, and discuss how they can be modified, and how GMs can influence them:| Revenue Item | Influences |
| Gate revenue | Ticket price * attendance = gate revenue. GMs can set the ticket price, but gate revenue is driven by team market size, fan loyalty, and fan interest. These can be seen on top left of the Finances sub-screen of the Front Office area. The best way to influence these factors is by winning! |
| Media revenue | Media revenue is partially driven by team market size, fan loyalty, and fan interest. However, the biggest influence on media revenue are the Average Media Contract and Media Contract Fixed? settings. These can be set during game creation in the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. After game creation, this can be done by navigating to OOTP Menu >> Game Setup >> League Setup >> Rules tab >> Financial Rules section. |
| Playoff revenue | Like Gate Revenue, playoff revenue is ticket price* attendance. Of course, you get playoff revenue by making the playoffs! |
| Revenue sharing | Revenue sharing income primarily comes about when your team has low revenue. There's not much the GM can do about revenue sharing income in a league with this rule in effect. Revenue sharing is also configured on the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. |
| Owner infusion of cash | Owners may periodically elect to inject cash into the baseball operation. GMs cannot influence owner infusion of cash. |
| Cash received from trades | This revenue item only comes into play if the GM receives cash in a trade. |
| Expense Item | Influences |
| Player salaries | GMs have sole responsibility for this expense. They can influence this expense by cutting salary, making smart trades, or locking up players early with long-term extensions at lower rates. |
| Staff salaries | GMs have sole responsibility for this expense. They can influence this expense by cutting salary or sacrificing skill in exchange for lower salaries. |
| Cash given in trades | This expense item only comes into play if the GM offers cash in a trade. |
| Scouting | This expense item is created through the Scouting Budget. |
| Revenue sharing | Revenue sharing expense primarily comes about when your team has high revenue. There's not much the GM can do about revenue sharing expense in a league with this rule in effect. Revenuse sharing is also configured on the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. |
How Much can the GM Spend?
The financial model itself is fairly simple. You can choose the more realistic model of having your owner set a budget to which you must adhere, or you can choose to have your entire revenue stream available. These can be set during game creation in the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. After game creation, this can be done by navigating to OOTP Menu >> Game Setup >> League Setup >> Rules tab >> Financial Rules section.If the team owner controls the budget, then each season you are given a specific budget to work with. In this scenario, the budget is decided arbitrarily by your owner. Different owners might create different-sized budgets. This amount is shown under the Current Budget field on the Budget Information section of the Finances page.
If you choose not to have an owner control the budget, then you can spend up to your team's entire revenue. This amount is shown under the Current Budget field on the Budget Information section of the Finances page. However, you still report to the owner, and can be fired for financial irresponsibility, unless you are the commissioner or you have the "cannot be fired" box checked in Manager Options.
