Question about finances...

[Lintyfresh85]

So I was wondering how does OOTP figure out what your budget is going to be for each year?

Last season I finished with a balance of $21,078,018. Coming into this season I had $15 million in cash... I guess I don't understand. What happened to the other 6 million dollars?

Also my budget says $61 million, and my staff and player salaries equal out to just north of $55 million, yet the game says my projected balance will be $3 million.

What I'm really getting at is, how do I know what my budget will be next year, and how can I make sure I make the budget increases so I can add to the payroll?

[Clay]

You don't know what your budget will be next year. Your owner sets it. You can assume it will be close to what you had this year, but you don't know for sure.

[Lintyfresh85]

then I guess I need some incriminating photos of my owner to persuade him into giving me more room to work.

[Andrew]

You don't know what your budget will be next year. Your owner sets it. You can assume it will be close to what you had this year, but you don't know for sure.

That's actually incorrect. We have this option disabled so you guys have your full budget available to spend.

[Andrew]

So I was wondering how does OOTP figure out what your budget is going to be for each year?

Last season I finished with a balance of $21,078,018. Coming into this season I had $15 million in cash... I guess I don't understand. What happened to the other 6 million dollars?

There is a cash maximum of $20,000,000. Anything over that disappears at the end of the season. This is necessary to avoid teams amassing huge amounts of cash which would throw our financial system way out of whack. Free Agent demands would be through the roof even more so than this past season.

Also my budget says $61 million, and my staff and player salaries equal out to just north of $55 million, yet the game says my projected balance will be $3 million.

What I'm really getting at is, how do I know what my budget will be next year, and how can I make sure I make the budget increases so I can add to the payroll?

I'm not sure about the projected balance. It might include potential incentives or something like that. It's also only updated once a year (the day after the playoffs end) so if you've traded or released players (or cash) since then, it might skew the numbers a little bit.

As far as determining budgets, you gave me my idea for this weeks blog. I should have it posted this afternoon.

[Riverman]

Also my budget says $61 million, and my staff and player salaries equal out to just north of $55 million, yet the game says my projected balance will be $3 million.

I think also included in figuring your projected balance are salaries already paid to players that have been traded. In your case you traded John Lankin for a guy with a minor league contract so Lankin's salary is no longer included in your staff and player salaries but the money you have already paid him is included in figuring your projected balance. The same idea would apply to players with major league contracts that were released earlier in the season.

It would be easier to understand if the financial page actually showed everything that went into calculating the projected balnce.

[Delandis]

So to add to Linty's question.

Can I expect 27 million of the 33 million I have for extensions to be eaten by the luxury tax?

[Lintyfresh85]

Talk about a bump! Nearly a year!

[Delandis]

Talk about a bump! Nearly a year!

Didn't wanna double up on something I knew had to have been asked before.

[Andrew]

So to add to Linty's question.

Can I expect 27 million of the 33 million I have for extensions to be eaten by the luxury tax?

No, because $$ for extensions does not take cash into account (currently, it will in the next patch).

Keep in mind though that even though you have $29 mil for extensions, you'd be entering serious luxury tax trouble if you spent all of it. You basically need to get that projected budget room number up to $27 million to finish next season in or close to the green.

[Riverman]

So to add to Linty's question.

Can I expect 27 million of the 33 million I have for extensions to be eaten by the luxury tax?

It looks like the game does not consider negative or postive cash balances when determining money available for extensions. So I would say that when the luxury tax is applied, it will not affect the money available in game for extensions.

That said, you ought to consider it yourself to determine if an extension is affordable. To do that look at the player salary schedule accessed in game from your home page. Add the 1985 total payroll to your negative cash balance (after the luxury tax is applied), personel costs and scouting budget, then compare that to your expected revenue. For the latter figure, I'd use last year as a starting point and make any adjustments you think appropriate. Let me know if you want me to check your final estimate as I think I understand how the financial page works pretty well.

If we adopt the schedule of fines proposed by Andrew, the first two years finishing in the red aren't too severe but you better make sure that you avoid a third consecutive year. In your case, I believe that your media revenue is scheduled to be reduced by $6.75 million in 1986 so you need to consider that as well.

[Andrew]

Looking at this more closely, the game is still using the 1984 payrolls to determine projected budget room. using the 1985 numbers, your projected budget room is $29,833,148 (the same # as your money for extensions). In other words, if your payroll stays the same you should be back in the green after 1985.

FYI the calculation for this was:

Current budget - (1985 proj payroll + staff expenses + scouting expenses)

[Delandis]

Andrew where are you getting 29 mil from? It says 33 million for ext on here.

[Andrew]

Andrew where are you getting 29 mil from? It says 33 million for ext on here.

That's the number in my copy. I'm guessing it's different because I changed the AI evaluation %'s which in turn changed the arbitration estimates.

[Clay]

Your copy also has the adjusted media contracts, no?