Money keeps a team together, and the bank is not sentimental. The Economy page lists your recent income and expenses. Two numbers matter most: the current account balance, what you have, and the available cash, what you can spend once your leading bids on the transfer list are set aside.
Where money comes from
- Tickets. Happier fans buy more tickets and the most expensive seats they can afford. Scrimmages are free for fans, cup games bring no arena revenue, and ticket money from playoff and relegation games is split half and half with the visitors.
- Merchandise. Jerseys sell when you win, when you have good domestic and home-drafted players, when your players played for their national team that week, and when you have league leaders.
- Television. Your league shares television revenue: every club collects a weekly TV contract, set when the season begins.
- Prizes and bonuses. Cash for each National Tournament, B3 or BuzzerBeater Madness game you win, a fixed award for the league champion and runner-up, and a one-time bonus when you are promoted. New teams also get $50,000 a week for their first four weeks.
- Transfers. Sales go straight into your balance the moment they complete, minus the sales tax.
Where it goes
- Player salaries, every week, with relief in the playoff weeks once your season is over.
- Staff salaries, which creep up every week.
- Scouting, arena construction, SportCity buildings (building costs plus $5000 a week per level) and severance when you change staff.
- Purchases on the transfer list.
The rules that bite
The TV deal comes with a salary floor: a minimum total salary, set as a share of TV money by division, charged even if your players earn less. New teams are exempt for their first 24 weeks.
Debt costs 5% a week. End four weekly economic updates in a row below -$500,000 and the club goes bankrupt: the whole squad is let go and replaced by a new one, and the books restart at $300,000. You keep the club, not the players. Only sales completed before the update count.
Being rich is not safe either. Every dollar above $25 million is taxed 10% a week, teams that spend much more than they earn pay an overextension tax, and fans boycott a team still waiting for its first league win when a third of the season ends, cutting ticket sales by up to 30% depending on how much money you hold. Goliath gets no sympathy, from the tax office or from the stands.
The arena
Ticket prices are yours to set within the league's ranges: bleachers $5 to $20, lower tier $18 to $70, courtside $50 to $200, luxury boxes $400 to $1600. The expensive seats sell win or lose but care about price; the cheap ones fill with rabid fans who come when you win. Expand when sections sell out, and remember that new seats take a day of construction for every 500. A bigger arena attracts sponsors and a Merchandise Store sells shirts, but both take a long time to pay for themselves.