No Teams "Amenable"

[Carman Bulldog]

I've been trying some quick simming with the historic rosters to get some history built up. I'm midway through the 70's and for some reason during the off-season, no teams are "amenable".

I could understand this if the team I was with was awful, but we have been to 3 of the past 4 finals (because of a good QB picked #2 overall by the scout - I really haven't been putting in any effort) including one Superbowl win. Our overall score for the year is consistently good.

Is there some sort of bug happening? There were one or two opportunities to join other teams the first few seasons (early 60's) but those have dried up. I'd really like to take over another team and actually start a career in the early 80's.

Can anyone help with what's going on?

[Ben E Lou]

Maybe it looks at the whole of your career as a GM.

[Carman Bulldog]

Third best record over the 13 seasons I have quick simmed. Only three non-playoff appearances. I'm actually doing better quick simming than I sometimes do micro-managing.

The only thing that I can maybe think of is that the evaluation isn't quite high enough.

Despite the strong performances, only once has the evaluation exceeded 65 (and that may have been the year that teams were amenable).

It appears that profit is weighted more heavily than other factors in the evaluation.

Can anyone very verify?

[Ben E Lou]

Third best record over the 13 seasons I have quick simmed. Only three non-playoff appearances. I'm actually doing better quick simming than I sometimes do micro-managing.

The only thing that I can maybe think of is that the evaluation isn't quite high enough.

Despite the strong performances, only once has the evaluation exceeded 65 (and that may have been the year that teams were amenable).

It appears that profit is weighted more heavily than other factors in the evaluation.

Can anyone very verify?Oh. If you're not changing ticket prices, then your profits probably suck, and that's probably exactly what's going on. I suspect that most FOFers don't care that much about being profitable, but the game clearly is built for it to matter.

The Financial Model for Front Office Football

When I began designing this game, there was no simulation on the market that made a significant attempt to manage a team financially. Nearly five years later, that may still be the case. Without a strong financial model affecting team goals and performance, players will likely concentrate simply on forming a championship-caliber football team and nothing else.

So far, that's what I've seen with games simulating other sports. There's an income statement, a few arbitrary decisions to make, and an easy way to keep the cash flowing your way.

That's not reality. First of all, team owners don't go bankrupt. If they're close, they simply sell the team. The days of teams being bought from bankruptcy court (I can only think of one baseball team where that happened) are long gone. These franchises are too valuable. It costs about half of a billion dollars to enter professional football today, if the opportunity is available.

Setting some arbitrary cash amount for each team and providing a income statement is not nearly enough to satisfy the financial requirement for a simulation. Player goals are centered on both fielding a successful team and building a financially stable franchise.

This means the player must continually financially upgrade the franchise. This is done by funneling profits into both stadium upgrades and new stadium construction. The value of a franchise is a function of its profitability, its cash on hand and the success of the team on the field.

The financial world of Front Office Football will change. A brand new stadium in 2003 will not generate as much profit in 2025 as it did in 2003.

Success in Front Office Football will require financial success. And in order to keep the value of your franchise high, you need to have a state-of-the-art stadium. That keeps the revenues flowing.

Your year-end grade in Front Office Football will depend only partly on the team's performance and the strength of its roster. More than half of your grade will be made of from your franchise's perceived value and the value of your stadium.

Your profits determine the maximum amount you can offer a player in bonus money, and a coach or scout during the staff hiring phase of the game.

You can have a lot of fun with the game without worrying about finances. Teams just don't suddenly pack up and leave, do they? But to achieve the high yearly grades, you're going to have to embrace finances as much as you embrace building a winning team.

[Richard Weed]

Maybe it looks at the whole of your career as a GM.
It shouldn't look at the whole of your career as a GM. If you have a bunch of really crappy seasons and you're rebuilding, and then you're on the rise you should be able to get a few teams' interest.

That being said, maybe there should be some separation between GM and Head Coach. Most GMs don't gameplan and they certainly don't call plays. If you're doing well on the field, but not doing well financially, then you could be hired as a Head Coach instead of a GM. The limitations would be that you would have to negotiate with your GM on whom to draft, which FAs you sign, who you cut, etc. I think that level of play would be interesting and expand on FOF.

Maybe there would be an option when you start your career, you can choose GM or Head Coach. After that, you can bounce from either or both.

[AlexB]

Are any teams 'amenable' though? That would be a different discussion altogether ;)