Warrior General Games

#1: I'm glad to finally get a team.

#2: I'm not a total rookie. I was GM for another team last season and managed to seriously upgrade their overall talent level. I've got about 2-3 more guys to add to their roster and they will be set for Season 8.

#3: Since this is my first team.......a couple of quick questions. I've got a team, great. However, I've got an empty roster with only 1.5Million in cash. I look around and most teams have rosters full of players with levels in the low to mid 30's. A few teams with talent in the 20's.

My question is.....how in the heck am I supposed to field even a decent team with the cash that I have to start. I'd be lucky to be able to afford 10-12 players in the 25-35 level range. Am I relegated to simply signing what I can afford and being assured of being at the very bottom of the conference for the next several seasons, getting whipped 150 - 0 all season long?

If that's the way it is and the way it works, fine. I just need to know.

Yes, because you are in a USA BBB league. Any other BBB league would be different, but the USA has been around long enough that even the BBB is extremely competitive. Luckily you ended up in the Eastern Conference, if you recruit hard and get good agents you can be successful in just a couple of seasons.

Things may change with the new suggested levels and how they affect fame and VAs, but for now you should sign what you can afford. Get players with good builds so that when they are up to a competitive level you will be more effective.

If you decide not to slow build, which many have done. You will at least get a few wins against those teams

Good Luck

Ok.....thanks. That's what I needed to know. Lots of work to be done and I'll have to look for those "diamonds in the rough" that I might dig out that will pay dividends on down the road.

Also, I'm thinking there won't be any stadium expansion this time around, as I'll probably need every penny that I can get my hands on, just to pay salary and bonuses this year.

no no no and again no...

Look I was where you were on the morning of Dec. 24... woke up to find I had a team that I didnt expect to get for at least 1 or even 2 more seasons, I had no one lined up at all, not even any of my own players were available. So like you I had no human players at all, no stadium, and 1.5 million in cash. I set out to put a team together. I only offered minimum contracts, minimum bonuses and everyone signed for at least 2 yrs if not 3. I spent less than 500,000 doing that leaving me with over a million left, and I took out a loan for 1.5 million giving me 2.5 million to spend on stadium expansion. I got two corner sections and added some seats, with ticket sales I paid back the loan in full in just a couple of days. We went on to win 10 games our first season, finishing 5th and made the playoffs. Now all four teams that finished ahead of us are promoted so we start the 2nd season at the top of the heap and hope we can stay there. I didnt load up with high priced talent, I found folks that were interested in building a winning team and understood that meant that they needed to understand that money was not flowing freely. You dont have to not expand your stadium first season, that would be a terrible mistake. You arent going to win it all the first season no, but you can be at least a .500 team and set yourself up for even more success your 2nd season, but do not fail to expand your stadium cause that is a mistake you will NEVER recover from. If you have questions, need help, just pm me Ill do what I can. It isnt as bad as you are making it out to be... I dont have any 40 lvl players, think I have 2 that are over 30, the highest being 33 the other 31, everyone else is in 20's .... youll be fine.

I agree that you shouldn't wait to build the stadium and you should find guys that are willing to play for cheap, just be sure they are guys that have the builds you will need to do well in the future. Find the guys that are willing to sacrifice for the team so that you can build the stadium and have plenty for them in future seasons.

Again, you're lucky to be in the conference you are in, as you will be able to have some success even in your first season. You're also lucky to be starting when you did, because we never used to have 4 teams from each conference move up, it used to be 1 from each at the most.

Tibbar, you need to be aware that teams have been demoted and some of them are going to be quite tough. It is very normal for the teams that are demoted to end up winning the championship and moving back up. You are not necessarily the top dog by default If only that were the case.

Well, I did a little math and I figured that I'm going to have to mostly sign talent in the Level 12 to Level 15 range and try to keep the average salary at or near 75K per player. If I'm able to do that and only sign a very tight roster of 46 players (22 offense, 22 defense, a kicker and punter), then we're talking around $3.45 Million in salaries, not counting bonuses.

I really want to expand my stadium, at least add some seats to what I have, even if I don't actually add any new sections, etc. But wasn't sure if I would have enough cash to do so without taking out a loan. Do the numbers above seem about right? If I go for talent below that level, that will add another season to our chance of being competitive. We'll be at or near the bottom the way it is and are gonna get our butts kicked in most of our games, even with players in the 12-15 range.

Tibbar: How on Earth did you only spend 500K on salaries and sign them for 2-3 seasons? What level of players were you getting for that? Did you only sign starters, no bench at all?

It isn't a bad thing to take out a loan, as long as you repay it right away. Build a section or two with your loan and you should get the money back for the loan and more in ticket sales. Check out the guides in the Finances & Construction section here: http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=755979

Again, some quick math. I have two choices. Add 1000 seats in my existing stadium area for 1Million. Or build a corner section, gaining 1840 seats for 1Million. The 1000 regular seats should sell for $42 each for 8 home games ($336,000). The 1840 corner seats would sell for $36 each for 8 home games ($529,000). So expanding by building the corner section makes the most sense. I would also gain some concession sales on these seats for the 8 games, but not sure how much money we're talking about there.

The only loan option is 1.5 Million, so I could use the other 500K for expanding about half of those sideline seats or use it for salaries, etc. Depending on how many seats are sold as season tickets and how many are sold as game tickets, that will of course be additional revenue. I can hope that I sell out each game, but I guess it's not 100%. Assuming I sell most of the seats I already have and take in some decent concession money, I should be able to pay off the loan. It's a bit of a risk, but that's part of the fun, huh?

I could also build an endzone section (seems a bit odd not to build the corners first) for 1.5Million. I gain 2760 seats at $32 each for 8 home games ($706,560). The return on investment is a bit higher for the corner section (roughly 52% vs 47%).

If I'm missing something or doing the math wrong, somebody speak up! Hehehe.....

Gonad, it's the offseason, always buy sections in the offseason because you can only construct sections at that time. If you buy them during the season you won't actually receive them until the following offseason. You can construct extra seats in those sections anytime, so wait until ticket money starts rolling in, pay the loan back and then use the money to add seats to your stadium. Do this until your first home game, and after that bank your money to add sections the following offseason and pay your players salaries.

Gonad first of all those 32 dollar endzone seats you talk about will sell for a minimum of 48 dollars a seat... 1.5x expected price is what you can get starting out like you are.... can get more then that as you start winning and building fan base...

also watch out on that expanding existing sections with additional seats thing, the payback on that, even with concessions is about 1 1/2 seasons at 1.5x expected ticket price... that means for now its an expense and you must watch your pennies....

you can spend up to 900000 right now signing a team.... just make sure you have over 500000 left, cause youll need 500000 exactly to go with the 1.5 million loan to buy 2 corner sections which is what you will need to do....

you can sign guys in low 20's... you have the funds for it

I'll send you a pm Barbarian, i may be able to help you out a bit.

I knew we were technically in the off-season, but how much longer is it before it rolls over to "negative" off-season days? Once those are gone, then we really are in Season 8, right? I borrowed the 1.5 Million and added one corner section. I've got 1.9 Million left and was thinking of building another section, but wasn't sure.

Tibbar, you pretty sure about being able to get 1.5 times the expected price? It's showing my fan base in the red, only rated "10", so I'm guessing my stadium is in the ghetto. If I could actually get that, then it makes things much easier and the return on investment much better and faster. Does the 1.5 hold true for all seats (sideline, corner, etc.), even in a "bad neighborhood" like mine? If so, that would make a big difference.

I've already signed some pretty good players, much better than their Level would normally indicate, as their builds are better than average. If I am able to step up and sign Level 20's, then I could still keep these guys for my bench.

Originally posted by Longfang72
I'll send you a pm Barbarian, i may be able to help you out a bit.

Yes, thanks for your help and suggestions. I'll get back with you tomorrow.

I took the plunge and ordered up the 2nd corner section, so $2 Million invested in stadium expansion. I've got 900K+ left to fill my roster (pay signing bonuses, etc.).

Quick question, assuming the 1.5 rate is right, can you get that on club seats too? Lastly, what about season ticket discounts? I set mine for 15%. Is that about right?

set your season ticket discount to ZERO, if you just have to discount set it at 1% but any discount you offer is money you wont get back....

yes with starting fan base you can get 1.5x expected on all tickets, actually maybe a bit more for club but guarantee 1.5 with starting fan base

set concessions to maximum (some say max minus 1 penny) which is fine as well

you really need to hit the forums and start reading up... join some of the private forums on stadium construction, team ownership, OC, DC etc ... ton of info out there, you just gotta go dig into it