Need help with starting season 2

fantavet · 01-23-2001, 10:16 PM

If you haven't heard I'm new to the FOF series with FOF 2001.

So I just won the Super Bowl in year 2000. My scout had a year left on his contract so I couldn't fire him correct? I wanted to but he seemed locked in.

Hired my coach back. Now this FA stuff...

Last season I think I screwed up royally. I signed way to many vets. Everytime I had a injury I signed a FA to keep the ball rolling. I see the results it had on my cap!

I only have $13 million left and only 27 players signed! This doesn't include two of my excellent players!

All my players are asking for big dollars. In my roster screen I have the option of signing them now. Do I have to?

I'm confused here. Isn't there a period where they can field offers from other teams which may drive their demands lower/higher?

What is the flow here. Took care of my staff, set ticket prices, started FA period now what?

Do I try to sign my best players now? Do I continue without signing anyone?

Thanks for any help.

dawgfan · 01-24-2001, 05:29 PM

Before anything else, I would recommend you check out the strategy guide that was put together for FOF2 by forum members here. Go to http://www.sportplanet.com/fof/fof2.shtml and look for the "Downloads" section and the link to "Downloadable Front Office Football 2 Strategy Guide". Much of the information in that guide applies to FOF2K1 as well.

First, regarding Scouts and Coaches - you can always hire a new Scout and Coach during the Scout/Coach hiring period, even if you already have one under contract. They're contracts aren't guaranteed, so every year you have the option of replacing them by hiring a new one.

Second, regarding your roster - one of the complaints about FOF2K1 is the rather large contract demands of all players. While it might be expected that starters, stars and superstars should command hefty salaries, even backups and benchwarmers will ask for the moon. Their demands will be at their highest at the beginning of the free agency period. As the 20 step free agency period continues, those that are not given offers right away will begin to lower their demands, but not by a huge margin. Free agent demands will reach their lowest point after training camp, prior to the start of the season. However, while available free agents at this time will generally have quite reasonable demands for a 1 year deal, they will want significantly more for a longer term contract.

What to do? Generally speaking, you'll be best off not ever allowing players you want to keep to reach free-agent status. You can do this by attempting to renegotiate contracts prior their last year. While their demands may seem quite high, it will be cheaper to extend a current contract than have to outbid all 30 of your fellow GM's during free agency. One negotiating tip: I've found that players are more willing to lower salary demands in the latter part of their contract request. For example, say Player X is asking for:

$5,000,000 Bonus
$1,250,000 First Year
$2,170,000 Second Year
$2,830,000 Third Year

You will able to talk down his second year request and third year request much more easily than his first year and bonus money. I might counter in this situation with:

$5,000,000 Bonus
$1,000,000 First Year
$1,750,000 Second Year
$1,750,000 Third Year

Or even better, lower the bonus amount and raise the salary amounts to compensate. Another tip - always try and offer a longer contract than what the player is requesting.

Keep in mind that the longer you hold on to a player, the higher their loyalty rating seems to get, which usually corresponds with a greater willingness on the part of the player to be flexible in negotiations. If you can't seem to sign a player in the last year of his contract to a reasonable extension, you may want to consider trading him now rather than risk losing him in free agency.

In your current situation, you may have to bite the bullet and let go of a lot of your players. Before you do that though, attempt to renegotiate with the players still under contract and try and lower their salary for the current season to free up some cap space. Financial management of your roster under a salary-cap contstraint is one of the key elements of this game. You'll find that there are ways to work with this constraint. One method is to keep the amount of money you pay in bonuses to a minimum, even if this means cranking up the yearly salary to compensate. The advantage here is that if you need to release or trade this player in the future, you won't take as much of a salary cap hit (the bonus is guaranteed money and still counts against your cap even if you trade or release a player). Given your current situation, you may want to look closely at the undrafted free agents that will be available after the draft. Go to the free agent screen and filter for 1 year free agents. There are usually at least a few useful guys that are available in this pool, and they're willing to sign for minimum salary. Most teams fill out the back ends of their rosters with these minsal guys. Occaisionally some of these guys blossom into starter-type players. Another thing to consider is trading for players on other teams. Since their former teams will have already paid out the bonus money, all you have to pay is the salary, which in many cases greatly reduces their cost to you.

Once you've gotten the hang of salary negotiation and trading with the AI, you may find that the game gets unrealistically easy, in which case you may want to check out some of the "house rules" that forum members have developed to make the game more challanging.

Good luck.

Zach · 02-05-2001, 06:38 PM

What you should do so it wont bite you again is look at the players who become free agents for the coming season and nagotiate their contracts, usually they will want some less money and they will instead take more years also if a team is trying to get back an UFA and if they go over the cap, usually no one else picks them up. i got la'roi glover during traning camp for 610,000 for one year, talk about a steal, but then he wants about 2 mil for the first year of a 4 year contract. so what im saying is to find the free agents that dont sign becuase they will want less money.

------------------
BLACK AND BLUE PRIDE!!

GO GHS!!

02-05-2001, 06:38 PM	#3
Zach n00b Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Geneva, Illinois	What you should do so it wont bite you again is look at the players who become free agents for the coming season and nagotiate their contracts, usually they will want some less money and they will instead take more years also if a team is trying to get back an UFA and if they go over the cap, usually no one else picks them up. i got la'roi glover during traning camp for 610,000 for one year, talk about a steal, but then he wants about 2 mil for the first year of a 4 year contract. so what im saying is to find the free agents that dont sign becuase they will want less money. ------------------ BLACK AND BLUE PRIDE!! GO GHS!! __________________ BLACK AND BLUE PRIDE!! GO GHS!!

01-24-2001, 05:29 PM	#2
dawgfan Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Seattle	Before anything else, I would recommend you check out the strategy guide that was put together for FOF2 by forum members here. Go to http://www.sportplanet.com/fof/fof2.shtml and look for the "Downloads" section and the link to "Downloadable Front Office Football 2 Strategy Guide". Much of the information in that guide applies to FOF2K1 as well. First, regarding Scouts and Coaches - you can always hire a new Scout and Coach during the Scout/Coach hiring period, even if you already have one under contract. They're contracts aren't guaranteed, so every year you have the option of replacing them by hiring a new one. Second, regarding your roster - one of the complaints about FOF2K1 is the rather large contract demands of all players. While it might be expected that starters, stars and superstars should command hefty salaries, even backups and benchwarmers will ask for the moon. Their demands will be at their highest at the beginning of the free agency period. As the 20 step free agency period continues, those that are not given offers right away will begin to lower their demands, but not by a huge margin. Free agent demands will reach their lowest point after training camp, prior to the start of the season. However, while available free agents at this time will generally have quite reasonable demands for a 1 year deal, they will want significantly more for a longer term contract. What to do? Generally speaking, you'll be best off not ever allowing players you want to keep to reach free-agent status. You can do this by attempting to renegotiate contracts prior their last year. While their demands may seem quite high, it will be cheaper to extend a current contract than have to outbid all 30 of your fellow GM's during free agency. One negotiating tip: I've found that players are more willing to lower salary demands in the latter part of their contract request. For example, say Player X is asking for: $5,000,000 Bonus $1,250,000 First Year $2,170,000 Second Year $2,830,000 Third Year You will able to talk down his second year request and third year request much more easily than his first year and bonus money. I might counter in this situation with: $5,000,000 Bonus $1,000,000 First Year $1,750,000 Second Year $1,750,000 Third Year Or even better, lower the bonus amount and raise the salary amounts to compensate. Another tip - always try and offer a longer contract than what the player is requesting. Keep in mind that the longer you hold on to a player, the higher their loyalty rating seems to get, which usually corresponds with a greater willingness on the part of the player to be flexible in negotiations. If you can't seem to sign a player in the last year of his contract to a reasonable extension, you may want to consider trading him now rather than risk losing him in free agency. In your current situation, you may have to bite the bullet and let go of a lot of your players. Before you do that though, attempt to renegotiate with the players still under contract and try and lower their salary for the current season to free up some cap space. Financial management of your roster under a salary-cap contstraint is one of the key elements of this game. You'll find that there are ways to work with this constraint. One method is to keep the amount of money you pay in bonuses to a minimum, even if this means cranking up the yearly salary to compensate. The advantage here is that if you need to release or trade this player in the future, you won't take as much of a salary cap hit (the bonus is guaranteed money and still counts against your cap even if you trade or release a player). Given your current situation, you may want to look closely at the undrafted free agents that will be available after the draft. Go to the free agent screen and filter for 1 year free agents. There are usually at least a few useful guys that are available in this pool, and they're willing to sign for minimum salary. Most teams fill out the back ends of their rosters with these minsal guys. Occaisionally some of these guys blossom into starter-type players. Another thing to consider is trading for players on other teams. Since their former teams will have already paid out the bonus money, all you have to pay is the salary, which in many cases greatly reduces their cost to you. Once you've gotten the hang of salary negotiation and trading with the AI, you may find that the game gets unrealistically easy, in which case you may want to check out some of the "house rules" that forum members have developed to make the game more challanging. Good luck.

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