If you find this post useful, throw me a ball
I am producing this guide because I want to see more teams get out of bot land and not get frustrated with the game. So we have more competitive divisions in the USA.
First of all read the manuals. You should get an understanding of the basics. This is only a guide to the economics of the game. I am not going to give away my secrets to what sort of players to buy
First off, don't hoard cash. No need to in Div 4/5.
Before you go selling your best possible trainee for cash (P-Allstar+ that started on your team and is age 18-19) buy an advanced trainer and train around him. He will be an asset in a few seasons. If you don't get lucky enough to start with a decent trainee, consider buying a few to resell until you start drafting your own.
Start putting 20,000 into the draft weekly. Its worth it. Chances are likely you will find one good player to draft each season especially in the lowest divisions. As you move up divisions, you should lower to 10,000 a week as you need to spend money elsewhere.
Get basic staff for doctor and PR. Massage is needed. Also PR needs NA or CI.
Look at your standings in your league. See if you have the chance to win the title this season. If no invest in the arena. If yes invest in starters. If no consider reducing your salary to around 30,000 since you do not pay minimum for the first 16 weeks. (For almost all situations, it is probably best to tank first season and pay little salary).
Investing in players. A balanced roster around $70,000 total salaries makes sense in low div 5 to win a title. You want 3-4 starters in the 10,000 range. Consider players ages 32+. They will cost less to buy which is important early. You will likely want a couple backups that can play a few different positions at a slightly lower value. Then you fill the roster with your trainees. Around 10-12 players is ideal.
Investing in arena. You will want to build up to around 15 lux box, 250 court, 1200 lower and 8000 bleach. You should build the boxes/court first and then work your way up. Just price as you expect to win your title in your second or third season. Review pricing in similar league leaders for Div 5.
After you have mastered beating the bots in Div 5 (which should only take 1-3 seasons depending on how early your start in season 1) you should win the title with a 22-0 record. With the money you earn from advancing, you can look at upgrading your roster to do better in the cups and be a title threat in Div 4. At this point you may want to buy 1-2 $20,000 salary players preferably from your own country since in Div 4 you will see a boost to merchandise. This should take your salaries to around 100,000/week. Also you should have spent around 2 million in total on arena expansions. After 3 seasons in Div 5 I had spent 2.5 million on expansions. I had three homegrown trainees. My roster sucked but that doesn’t matter as long as I was winning every game.
Be sure to review pricing for teams that won the title the season before you win a title. That way you get an idea of where to price for the next season. The bonus to ticket sales is huge. It was more than I had factored entering Div 4 and I had underpriced some.
Depending on what teams you land with in Div 4, your goal should be to advance to Div 3 in 1-2 seasons. To do this you are again going to have to make a decision, do I buy players or do I build my arena? If you are lucky and have a good chance at a title then go for it. It is always more profitable to go for a winning team than an average team. However, you won’t see the advantages until you move to the next Div. In my situation I was unlucky and faced a tanker team. So I expanded my arena by 1.5 million. I am now at 4 million in expansions. During the season in Div 4 I made the playoffs with a 15-7 record. Not bad considering my roster cost on average was 100,000/week.
Last edited by lawrenman at 7/3/2014 3:18:16 PM