Judging from various teams’ in top of D3 leagues (via Azariah’s Silver Ticket series last season) the formula for a championship caliber D3 team has part of the following:
Strong, stable roster construction (Around 400k salary normally, perhaps 450-500k on title pushes and rams gunning for a championship)
How that 400k is spent is ambiguous, however having star players in a couple of positions (Think 65-85k salary, 2 of those, surrounded by 2-3 35-50k players and rest of rotation filled with 15-25k players) who can take over the game would be recommended. You’d also get nice brownie points if you’re either A) developing those star players or
have complementary players getting trained that fit seamlessly with said star player. Most winners are doing some sort of training, as it is a viable source of income if you sell, or supreme cost efficient benefit as later in the season your trained player now will outperform his salary from the beginning of the season.
Strong finances: pretty simple, you have a stack of cash and you’re either utilizing it to hold a larger salaried roster OR you’re operating at a net loss while having a roster that can compete. Most D3 champions break even or are operating at minimal losses during their championship campaign, with a rare select few that operate at a substantial profit. Since you’re winning a ton you will get fans in the arena, so around 240k+ in ticket revenue (this number will differentiate by arena size and other factors like merchandise store, TV station, etc) while also harboring decent merchandise revenue.
DISCLAIMER: did not include profits from TV and Radio/Merchandise store because some teams don’t have it; but this is a supreme benefit. Using myself as an example, my D3 averages 50k merchandise for most teams, however with my 4M arena, TV station and merch store I feel in 135k per week, which enables me to carry much more salary than my competition.
Your staff depends on if you’re training high caliber players or not, but most champions will likely still run a level 4-5 trainee, a doctor of players get hurt, and a sports psychologist to keep players in top gameshape. This will run you about 50-60k per week
The biggest part of team management is legit training in my opinion; you can’t just carry a stagnant roster of players not getting better, you don’t reap any benefits whatsoever unless you time the market and when people will buy XYZ kind of player. So it is of utmost importance to train players so you can get the most bang for your buck. Now…what kind of players to build? That’s entirely up to your imagination but the biggest wave right now is either
A) training guards/wings that can score amongst all 3 levels
OR
B) train defensive stopper Centers that can start the offense with passing (AKA “SBers”)
You build one to complement the other, since you get the best of both worlds when you combine the 2, like a good ol peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The SBers can give you flow and defense while the scorers can put it in the cup, and do whatever else you train them to do.
Now of course these ain’t the only players to build; there is still a niche market for Pass first guards, all around forwards, or even the old school dunk it inside center, but if you wanna make a quick profit a solid wing or a solid SBer are the most attractive market options.
Once you build a player that you like, you must surround him with talent. Even with 1 position training 3 players you will need to have 2 more guys on the starting lineup and 5 more to make a solid enough 8 man rotation. This is where you either train a second batch of trainees to complement OR you have built enough money to build around the edges. Either strategy works but you usually will be getting your money up as you’re training and when the opportunity presents itself, that’s when you strike.
Last edited by tough at 10/31/2025 12:44:10 AM3 Time NBBA Champion. Certified Trainer. Mentor. Have any questions? Feel free to shoot me a BB-Mail!