Guys i thought id put my thoughts down about this. Id love to hear yours!
This is intended to help all the managers here to think about ways of making their teams stronger in the long term.
At first thought you might think this is bonkers - "why would we want to increase competition for ourselves to stay in Div II and try to promote?"
Well i think the harder the challenge in this division the better and it will also mean the best manager will go to the EBL and be able to survive better! It will also mean future EBL relegated teams will find it harder to just bounce back up (muharhar)
So here are a few things we could discuss:
1. Arena and prices, and fanbase
2. Gameshape
3. Staff - doctor and PR
4. Roster size/wages
here are some of my thoughts but what do you think?
1. For starters the one thing that a team needs to go to the EBL and stay there is a large arena. 20,000 plus seats in total with the most expensive seats maxed out at 50/500. The balance between lower tier and courtside is important too. i personally think my CS is a bit low and bleachers maybe too high but its a great starting point.
A big arena at the right prices draws bigger crowds which benefits your team every home game. It also means when other teams with a larger fan base visit your arena you can fit more of them in and kerching!
If every team set out to save £500,000 a year for arena expansions (or more) then after a few seasons they would have completed all the investment necessary.
2. Gameshape. If more teams managed this better playing in Div II would become very very interesting. Players only need 5 or 6 quarters of basketball a week and then they play like heroes! Easy!
3. Staff. Depending on whether you go for high salary low fee, or low salary high fee, depends on how often they need to be replaced. Perhaps every 2 to 3 seasons if you go for low salary high fee. No point in losing money on expensive layabout staff members! Doctors are invaluable to reduce the chance and duration of injury. PRs i think are understood the least, but if you have a big arena and want to build up your fan base more quickly there may be a long term financial benefit to going up a level or two on these staff members...