OOTP Finances

[Guest]

I have been involved for many years with OOTP, and was reading the thread for newbies. I'm posting this about the OOTP finances, it was written by my good friend the "Ole Gaffer", Bill Attebury , you will not find this info in a manual. I hope this better helps you guys understand about the front office page..

http://www.simbaseballleague.com/cgi...num=1350643550

[Matt]

Requires a log in...possibly cut and paste if it's not too long?

[Guest]

ok Matt this is long I will try that.

[Guest]

I hope this info is helpful for you guys...

Every GM has a chief Financial Officer (CFO) which maintains the finances. In OOTP, that information is contained in the Front Office tab of the Team’s pages. However, in OOTP the CFO is the GM’s son-in-law, Gomer. He is not very bright, prone to errors and flunked math, but your daughter loves him anyway and you need to ensure your daughter lives well, so you put up with him. He loses to you in golf, cleans your glasses and gets your scotch as well.

This guide is to help you understand the numbers, where they come from and what it means to your franchise.
Let us start with the Financial Summary in the top left corner. This is a simple summary. All the numbers come elsewhere except the budget. That is computed at the beginning of the off season and never changes.

Financial Summary
Budget 2nd $114,910,000
Player Payroll 22nd $44,065,000
$ left for Free agents $41,625,000
$ left for extensions $55,266,294

The $ left for free agents or extensions are the key numbers because if they are $0 you can’t sign or extend. So if $ left for free agents is zero, you can’t sign free agents. If the $ left for extensions is still positive then you can sign extensions.

You would think this summary can’t go wrong but again, the son-in-law isn’t very bright. Do not confuse payroll with expenses. They are different. Here’s what happens, using the table above. On 1 July I trade a rookie prospect for a new starting pitcher making $10m. The player payroll will now show $54,065,000. Player payroll is the sum of player salaries. However, since it is July 1 and salary expenses are incurred each month of the season, you will only incur about $5M in expenses or roughly half the salary. So this number does not really state the amount of payroll you are really paying.

Also, your son-in-law is lazy here. As indicated previously your budget is set at the beginning of the offseason. This usually occurs near the end of October. From that time until Jan 1 the next year, the payroll shown is the current year payroll NOT the next year proposal. So of course, the calculations based upon incorrect salaries are bound to result in inaccurate projections. You can see your projected payroll for next season to compare with the budget by looking at the salary obligations tab on the front off tab and look at the coming year (the second column from the left.)

And finally, the $ left for extensions is rarely correct. I will describe more when I discuss the details that make up this number shown in the middle column, but my advice is TO NEVER USE THIS NUMBER FOR DECISIONS!

(have Gomer clean your glasses again).


In the middle column of the report is a brief break out of some on the numbers, first is Budget Information

Budget Information
Current Budget $114,910,000
Total Expenses to date $27,940,000
Remaining Expenses $65,345,000
Proj. Budget Room $21,625,000

These numbers are just what they seem. Expenses are the sum of the player expenses, staff expenses, scouting expenses, draft expenses and player development expenses. First is what you have incurred to date and the second line is what is remaining. Proj. (Projected) Budget Room is not reliable because you don’t know what your revenues are here. The room exists only if you have the revenue to meet the budget. (more on revenues later)


The Available Funds calculation is the data that supports the $ for free agents and $ for extensions values on the Financial Summary we discussed above.

Available funds calculation
Proj. Budget Room $21,625,000
Cash $20,000,000
Offered contracts $0
$ left for Free agents $41,625,000
Proj. Budget Room (next season) $114,902,294
Cash $20,000,000
Projected payroll (next season) $38,336,000
Projected misc expenses (next season) $49,240,000
$ left for extensions $47,326,294

First is the calculation for available funds for free agents. It is based upon the Projected Budget Room from the Budget information, but of course that may not be accurate. You then add your cash on hand and subtract any contracts that are currently in negotiation. The end result is the $ left for free agents. The math is right and if you trust the budget room, then the available funds is correct.

Next we look at $ left for extensions. Three of the figures are fairly straightforward. Cash is the Cash on hand (same as above). Projected payroll is the sum of salary commitments for next season (go to the salary obligations tab to see those). Projected misc. expenses is the sum of staff expenses, scouting expenses, draft expenses, player development expenses. It is probably the same as the current year, unless you have staff coming off contracts. Of course, you can change the scouting expenses for next year when the new season starts. Then there is Projected Budget next season. This figure is based upon the same league-wide budget calculation only using the Profit/loss currently shown (it is in the last column and we will discuss it later).

So if we are in November/December, the engine is using last season’s payroll not the coming season payroll to compute expenses. On a league wide basis that makes this number very volatile. After the first of the year, it is using current year salaries in computing the projected budget for next year. Of course as we will see soon you season profit/loss figure is very inaccurate.

You ask your son-in-law, Gomer, about the accuracy of the projected budget, since you are giving the $ for extensions to your director of player personnel as a guide in his contract discussions. His reply: “Gee Dad, I just get the figure from the league. It changes all the time anyway. Don’t forget, we have a tee time in an hour.”

You just shake your head. Then you ask. “Why is the number here different than the one in the financial summary?” The confident reply is “I don’t know!”

(Author’s NOTE: - In November and December, the value $ left for extensions as calculated here is the same as the value in the Financial Summary. Now logic might suggest that the same value is posted in two places, but in this case the $ left for extensions in the financial summary is a calculation as well and clearly uses a different algorithm. Once the season starts (around Feb), these two values are different. The number in the Financial summary is usually higher, but the number here is more accurate (NOT CORRECT – since it is based upon projections for next season, but as the season progresses it will become more accurate). Also remember in November and December the payroll expenses are wrong, so even though the two numbers are the same they are both wrong!

The right hand column is your summary view of how you are doing this season financially, except for the top right which shows last season’s balance. Also there is a button above this that says “SHOW LAST YEAR”. This will toggle back to last year’s ending data. The entire right column toggles so you can see all your revenue and expenses for last season anytime during the current season (and you will need to).

PRECEDING YEAR BALANCE $38,431,876
revenue sharing $0
cash from trades $0
cash from owner $18,431,876
Starting Balance (= Cash) $20,000,000

This information is simple. The preceding balance is what you made last year (when you are in year 1 of the league the data shown for last year is made up by the financial engine at league creation). If you have paid revenue sharing last year or received money from revenue sharing then it is shown here. If you use cash in trades the net value is shown in “cash from trades” The cash from owner comes from two places. If you league uses the owner controls budget (the ABL doesn’t) then he may add or subtract money from the franchise. Otherwise this is the cash lost via the cash maximum value of the league ($20,000,000 in the ABL case). So in this case the team made $38,431,876 last season, but since it is only allowed to keep $20,000,000 the difference is shown in the cash from owner field as cash lost.

Revenue to date
Gate revenue
playoff revenue
Media Revenue $28,000,000
Merchandising revenue
REVENUE SUB TOTAL $28,000,000

Expenses to date
Player expenses
Staff expenses
Scouting expenses $15,000,000
Draft expenses $7,940,000
Player development expenses $5,000,000
EXPENSES SUB TOTAL $27,940,000

Season Profit/Loss $60,000
Current Balance $20,060,000

PROJECTED FINAL BALANCE $82,630,038



Until we discuss the Projected Final Balance, everything here is an accurate reflection of where you are in the current year. In some circles this is referred to as your working view (e.g. current state). The fields are just what they say. Gate revenue is the revenue you have received for home and away games (remember you get 25% of the away gate in the ABL), playoff revenue is what you get in the playoffs, media revenue is a combination of your local and national media contracts and Merchandising revenues is what you are getting from selling shirts/caps/food etc. it is only computed during the regular season, so think of this as what your fans buy at the ballpark (not in stores). These are summed to give you your total revenue to date in REVENUE SUB TOTAL.

Expenses are similar. Your expenses to date are listed and totaled in the EXPENSES SUB TOTAL.

So you Season profit/loss = Revenue – Expenses.

Your Current Balance is your Season profit/Loss + cash.

Even Gomer can do that math.

Not being very bright, Projected Final Balance is beyond him. In essence, it is the same calculation of revenue – expenses + cash. The difference is that it uses last year’s revenue (except the media revenue). These values can be seen by going up to the button SHOW LAST YEAR and clicking it. The gate, playoff and merchandise revenue from last year are added to the media revenue of the current year to create projected revenue.

The Projected Expenses logic retains flaws seen previously (e.g. last year vs this year and Payroll vs expenses). Player and staff payrolls are added to scouting, draft and player development expenses to date. However, in November and December the page seems to know the player payroll is incorrect, so it doesn’t include those expenses at all. So you will see a projected budget based on last year’s revenue and no player expenses. Makes you feel good but is pure fantasy.

[Matt]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the BLB forums. Looks like FOF brought you here but we'll steal you sooner or later.

Thanks for the great info.

[Pat]

Wow. It all makes sense now.

Thanks a lot RPD! Stop by any time!

[funclown]

Its too bad I have a very short attention span cuz this looks pretty important.

Thanks though for this article.

[umd]

Its too bad I have a very short attention span cuz this looks pretty important.

Thanks though for this article.

Jistic will put it on an audio book for you.

[funclown]

Jistic will put it on an audio book for you.

Thanks.

[Ryan]

Thanks.

Send it my way...

[BDub]

Its too bad I have a very short attention span cuz this looks pretty important.

Thanks though for this article.

There is a YouTube video out there that gives info on how the finances screen works. Sorta the "book-on-tape" version.

[Spear]

I don't trust this Gomer.


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