A Contraction Option?

[TexanBob]

It wasn't that long ago that MLB considered contraction and, as I look at some BM franchises with serious debt problems, I wonder if the designers could add a contraction option to Commissioner Mode, complete with dispersal draft. Of course, this would be *after* you've allowed players to start a franchise by selecting their own expansion draft. Could be a fun twist.

[Wassit3]

interesting idea, i'm intrigued

[ohms_law]

I'd love it. There could even be a setting to automatically contract if a team gets beyond a certain amount of debt. That would be great. lol

[TexanBob]

I'd love it. There could even be a setting to automatically contract if a team gets beyond a certain amount of debt. That would be great. lol

Except you'd probably have to contract in multiples of two.

[ohms_law]

Yea, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?

[GreenDiamond]

If a team hits the threshhold for league contraction it should be put into a status which indicates that negotiations for the teams future are underway. This process could take say, up to three years.

Basically during this time, the city, the league and the owners would be considered to be spending this time looking at options, engaging in negotiations/lawsuits, and the various other elements of a major economic shift of this type.

If during that interim a second team entered the same status, the league would undergo contraction. (Thus fulfilling the even number of teams requirement for scheduling requirements.).

If a team remained in odd-number status for the requisite period (three years) and had shown insufficient financial progress, the team would be presumed to be sold. In this case, there is a high probability that the team would end up being relocated to a new city.

IE: have the AI determine investment capital available, teams purchase price, select a city and build/generate a stadium. Remaining capital would then be applied to the teams financial ledger (alternatively do this as a final step, and set it to around the leagues current average.)

This sort of event should be relatively rare, as franchise moves are fairly uncommon as are obviously, league contractions. But it would provide a mechanism for dealing with this sort of situation and the possibility of one or more teams going significantly bankrupt over a short period of time.

[ohms_law]

Getting the AI to move to better cities should be in. At least optionally, it should (As a user, I'd like some control of it). For an example of why, I was testing my roster mod last nigh, and was finished with that and about to go to bed. So, I figure, what the heck just let it sim. Woke up this morning and the game is going strong in 2310 (I was using Mogul 2007). So, I stop the sim and take a look around.

Everything is pretty typical except for Pittsburgh, who is $300+ Million in the hole. Looking at their team history, they haven't had more than $17 Million (<- that's not a typo) in revenue at any time in the last 100 years. Turns out that the city is a ghost town. Their loosing 3000 people a year, and have a current population of ~100,000, region population just barely over ~1,000,000.

It should be rare that a franchise moves, but the AI ought to be aware of it's situation and get out when things start getting to the level above!

[GreenDiamond]

Getting the AI to move to better cities should be in. At least optionally, it should (As a user, I'd like some control of it). For an example of why, I was testing my roster mod last nigh, and was finished with that and about to go to bed. So, I figure, what the heck just let it sim. Woke up this morning and the game is going strong in 2310 (I was using Mogul 2007). So, I stop the sim and take a look around.

Everything is pretty typical except for Pittsburgh, who is $300+ Million in the hole. Looking at their team history, they haven't had more than $17 Million (<- that's not a typo) in revenue at any time in the last 100 years. Turns out that the city is a ghost town. Their loosing 3000 people a year, and have a current population of ~100,000, region population just barely over ~1,000,000.

It should be rare that a franchise moves, but the AI ought to be aware of it's situation and get out when things start getting to the level above!

Presumed that was the reason for the discussion :)

Like all options it should be controlled by the player. Think check boxes (allow team relocation, allow international cities, player select new city) would be sufficient.

If the player select was not on for the league, the AI would presumably select a city. Probably 70% chance of choosing one of the top 5 available markets, and a 15% chance of a random city (presumably the ownership groups hometown), and probably a 15% chance of remaining in the city under new ownership. Remaining in city percentages could alternately be tied to current population or projected population in ten years.

The thread is about league contraction, so originally presented as a mechanism for dealing with multiple teams in financial trouble. In the case of pittsburgh being the sole non-viable team, it would default to being a candidate for moving.

I would guess that if the franchise were to elect to remain in Pittsburgh under new ownership, the deal would have to include a favorable new stadium construction, as that might be enough to make the team viable. Realistically, the team would probably move.

Interesting population shift in your example. Think city growth should have a bit more randomness, or recalculate the growth rate every 5 to ten years to simulate economic shifts. Pittsburgh becoming a full on ghost town seems unlikely, and there is the chance of a major industrial entity taking foot there if real estate prices get attractive enough. Presumably average area incomes should shift occaisionally as well.

[ohms_law]

Well, there was talk of adding user control over all team moves anyway. Currently, all the teams move as they did historically, but they move regardless of whether or not you want them to. There's a notification at the end of a season for each team that moves. It should be relatively easy to change that from a notification to an option, since the interface elements are already available in the game. Eventually, that system could probably be extended to include checks for moves for teams in trouble, and some sort of contraction option as well.

Anyway, the city growth does change every year, according to what I've see Clay say about the issue. I remember him mentioning that the population change and the per capita income changes +/- %5 every year (the rate of change actually changes though, not the amount of change), so it's small but it does change. The Pittsburgh example is rather extreme, but it does happen. Keep in mind that that game simmed several hundred years, as well.