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Inaugural Drafts
Inaugural drafts (sometimes called "fantasy drafts") are one-time events in a league. In a league with an inaugural draft, all teams begin play with no players on their rosters at any level, and play begins with a draft of enough players to populate rosters at all levels for each team.
This page consists of the following sections:
Note: The above links will not work within the in-game help. However, they all simply link to sections lower in this page, so if you are reading this in-game, just scroll down to find the appropriate section!
Note: It is possible to have multiple leagues, some of which have inaugural drafts and some of which do not.
All players are automatically entered into the inaugural draft pool, and are visible on the Draft Pool page. The Draft Pool page is available either in the League Menu or in the Transactions area. There will also be a link on the Manager Home page. The game will automatically bring you to the Draft Order and Rules page. You can safely navigate through the game and still come back to the draft screens through the Inaugural Draft link in the League Menu, but you will not be able to advance the date in the game until you deal with the draft.
(5+1) x 25 = 6 x 25 = 150 rounds in the inaugural draft
However, when determining the number of rounds, it actually uses the greatest number of affiliations of any single team in the league. So, let's say your setup has one team that has six minor league teams, while all other teams have five. In that case, the equation would be:
(6+1) x 25 = 7 x 25 = 175 rounds in the inaugural draft
In this case, only the team that has six affiliations would select during those last 25 rounds, since all the other teams would have filled their rosters by the time round 151 was reached.
Additionally, OOTP also enables you to more precisely define how contracts are handled by enabling you to draft with a fixed budget. This value can be set on the Draft Rules page. If you choose to draft with a fixed budget, the following options appear:
When using a fixed budget, players in the draft will each have salary demands. You cannot draft players whose combined demands exceed the team draft budget. After the draft, each team's financials will be adjusted using the draft budget as the base.
To draft with a fixed budget, you define an overall team draft budget. This budget applies to each team in the league, by default. However, you can also manually adjust each team's budget by editing the values on-screen. You can also have OOTP recalculate the budgets according to the population of the cities that host the teams by clicking the Adjust Budgets using City Population button. In this case, teams from larger cities will have larger budgets.
If you adjusted any league financial settings after the creation of the league, you should use the Recalculate Player Demands and Recalculate Budgets buttons. Otherwise, your budget settings may not match your new financial settings.
When using a fixed budget, the Continue Draft page will include player demands, as well as a running total of how much money you have spent towards your budget.
This page consists of the following sections:
- Configuring Inaugural Drafts
- Inaugural Draft Overview
- Number of Rounds in an Inaugural Draft
- Inaugural Draft Budgets
- Running the Inaugural Draft
Note: The above links will not work within the in-game help. However, they all simply link to sections lower in this page, so if you are reading this in-game, just scroll down to find the appropriate section!
Configuring Inaugural Drafts
At the time of a league's creation, you can define whether or not an inaugural draft will be held in the Options page. If no draft is held at the time the game is created, the computer will randomly populate all teams' rosters, and play will begin. If, for some reason, you wish to set up an inaugural draft after the initial creation of the league (for example, if you made a mistake during the game creation), there is still hope. OOTP has a League Function that allows you to release all players and schedule a new inaugural draft.
Note: It is possible to have multiple leagues, some of which have inaugural drafts and some of which do not.
Inaugural Draft Overview
When a game begins with an inaugural draft, the first thing you will see upon starting a game is the following message box:All players are automatically entered into the inaugural draft pool, and are visible on the Draft Pool page. The Draft Pool page is available either in the League Menu or in the Transactions area. There will also be a link on the Manager Home page. The game will automatically bring you to the Draft Order and Rules page. You can safely navigate through the game and still come back to the draft screens through the Inaugural Draft link in the League Menu, but you will not be able to advance the date in the game until you deal with the draft.
Number of Rounds in an Inaugural Draft
In an inaugural draft, teams select players until all team rosters have been filled. When determining the precise number of rounds in the inaugural draft, the game first looks at the number of affiliations within the league. For example, if you have the standard five levels of minors, then each major league team has five affiliated teams. The game takes the number of affiliations, plus one for the major league team, and multiplies this by the active roster limit. So, for the example above, you would get:(5+1) x 25 = 6 x 25 = 150 rounds in the inaugural draft
However, when determining the number of rounds, it actually uses the greatest number of affiliations of any single team in the league. So, let's say your setup has one team that has six minor league teams, while all other teams have five. In that case, the equation would be:
(6+1) x 25 = 7 x 25 = 175 rounds in the inaugural draft
In this case, only the team that has six affiliations would select during those last 25 rounds, since all the other teams would have filled their rosters by the time round 151 was reached.
Inaugural Draft Budgets
By default in OOTP, when you have an inaugural draft, all players are given automatically contracts. The majority of the starting contracts will be for one or two years, although some might be longer. To calculate initial contracts, the league calculates the average player quality at each position. Then it compares each player to that baseline, and based on the difference assigns a contract that is based on the salary steps (above average, good, star, and so on) in the league financial rules. Also factored in are service time (which is generated randomly), age, and a certain amount of randomness. Arbitration-eligible players get less money, and players who are eligible for the league minimum get that amount. Due to the flexibility of the financial model, however, player contracts might be structured differently from what is written here, depending on which financial options are enabled.Additionally, OOTP also enables you to more precisely define how contracts are handled by enabling you to draft with a fixed budget. This value can be set on the Draft Rules page. If you choose to draft with a fixed budget, the following options appear:
When using a fixed budget, players in the draft will each have salary demands. You cannot draft players whose combined demands exceed the team draft budget. After the draft, each team's financials will be adjusted using the draft budget as the base.
To draft with a fixed budget, you define an overall team draft budget. This budget applies to each team in the league, by default. However, you can also manually adjust each team's budget by editing the values on-screen. You can also have OOTP recalculate the budgets according to the population of the cities that host the teams by clicking the Adjust Budgets using City Population button. In this case, teams from larger cities will have larger budgets.
If you adjusted any league financial settings after the creation of the league, you should use the Recalculate Player Demands and Recalculate Budgets buttons. Otherwise, your budget settings may not match your new financial settings.
When using a fixed budget, the Continue Draft page will include player demands, as well as a running total of how much money you have spent towards your budget.
