2025-05-17, 11:22 AM - Word count:
(This post was last modified: 2025-05-17, 01:41 PM by Daleks.)
Hello! (I don't know how to start this article).
The SSL always strives to make this football/soccer sim league experience try to mimic and be as close to real life football/soccer as possible, while at the same time trying to maximize the amount of fun possible. Due to this, there are a few factors that are not considered, such as injuries.
There is one mechanic that, with the introduction of the unlimited bounty money rule, could make its way into the SSL: better prizes for higher finishing positions in the league.
What would be the point?
The reality of how SSL works is that the only motivation that exists for teams to do as best as they can right now is a trophy for first place. If you are not in first place, then you are literally the first loser. What does being in second give you? An extremely late draft pick. And what motivates teams to not just sandbag their final few matches as soon as they know they can't win the trophy? Well, nothing.
Yes, you are expected to try to win games due to the spirit of the game, otherwise you are boring and will be punished by the BoD with the power of a thousand stars. However, it makes victories not feel as sweet anymore. And well, someone could always just try to hide their sandbagging better.
Incentives
In real life, football/soccer teams try their best to achieve the highest finishing position possible. What are the benefits? They are:
- Monetary incentives
![[Image: rACKFev.png]](https://i.imgur.com/rACKFev.png)
Here we can see a real-life example from the 2023/24 Premier League season. The clubs gained a different payment based on their finishing position, with 2023/24 Premier League winners Manchester City getting the highest total merit payment of 56,4 million pounds. While the very last club in the league only got a mere 2,8 million pounds.
- Continental cups qualification spots
Another big reason for a continued fight for the top spots is the continental cup competitions. In Europe, this would be the champions league, europa league and the european conference league. Getting into them is very important, as they provide even more prize money and a chance for a trophy.
Why now?
There was always a big negative that prevented this from being a potential part of the league earlier. The fear of snowballing and a rich get richer effect.
I believe that, with the removal of the bounty cap (and the TPE training limit), giving extra money should cause less issues due to the fact that it is money that could have just been earned with doing an extra bounty. It does not break the established balance of the league anymore, as it would have before.
Example implementations
Example 1: Reward money based on league finishing position
I’ll start with my favourite potential solution.
In this example, we would reward more money the higher a team finishes in the minor and majors league. To prevent annoying admin work, weird team switching and to promote locker rooms to cheer for both of their teams, whatever money is earned is given to every registered player equally.
Let us make an example for a scenario if this was implemented last season (and if last season already had a bounty cap removal).
![[Image: 8lrFSpG.png]](https://i.imgur.com/8lrFSpG.png)
Here I made an example where the worst minors team gets 100k, and it increments by 100k each position. Majors worst team starts with 800k, so that it prevents people putting their better players in minors to get a higher payday.
Our example player here will be North’s Thomas Hohenhahn, who played for Kaapstadt last season. At the end of the season, Hohenhahn would be 1,7m richer, due to Kaapstad earning 700k and Hollywood earning 1,1m.
The prize money can be adjusted based on what seems right. Maybe last two places get the same prize money, maybe first two places get the prize money, maybe there are smaller increments.
The richest players here would come from the Schwarz+Montreal organisation, where they would have been 2.2m richer. That is close to best case scenario and it’s basically just equivalent to being very slightly better than an excellent graded 500k base bounty. And of course, this is with my own numbers. 2.2m extra money for a brilliant season is not balance breaking but it would make every player in the organization feel even better about achieving a great result, and there would be a real point to always try for a higher finishing position.
What about the cup? Well, I’d say it’s not needed there. Every match is a fight for the trophy and there are no rewards for going out early (unlike in the league, where a lower finishing position results in a faster draft pick), so there is always a reason to try to win. Adding prize money for the cup would also result in perhaps a bit too much money for the best teams (as the better teams tend to advance more often, even considering the fact there are usually a lot of upsets in the cup).
Example 2: Reward money based on cup results, with the league acting as a placement incentive only
This example I like way less, but it has some merit. League finishing positions only has a tiny effect on when teams enter the cup, with the current setup making it so that only the lowest minors’ teams must go into preliminaries. So, the issue of inconsequential league finishing positions would still remain.
Currently, the cup has a preliminaries stage, then R16, quarters, semis and finals. In this scenario, we could reward 100k for preliminaries, 200k for R16 and so on. Again, both of an organisation’s teams would earn the money for all the players in the organisation.
This would make the cup more important, which is always nice. However, I don’t think the cup has an issue with matches not being important, as teams always have a chance to advance to the next stage and fight for the trophy while they are still in the competition. The league part would not see any improvement, where the main issues lie. The only way the league could promote more competitiveness this way is by completely changing how teams enter the cup. Maybe make it seeded? Best teams face off against the worst. This would likely lead to very painful games of 1st place majors competing against last place minors though.
An alternative would be bringing a form of group stage back and seed it there to mitigate the amount of one sided games and to give smaller teams more of a fighting chance.
This is already getting perhaps a bit too complex though, let’s move on.
Example 3: Reward money for... both?
I guess you could combine both examples together and just keep the cup the way it is right now. We would perhaps start to enter in territory where there is too much money handed around to the best teams each season though.
Example 4: Add the money to transfer budget instead
This one is honestly just a bit boring for the players, but it could be situationally useful to an organisation. Instead of rewarding players with money, the organisation itself could get more money added to their transfer budget at the end of the season.
In all honesty, it is still quite boring, but it might be an interesting idea if the transfer system were ever to become more advanced.
What are the consequences?
As mentioned, a reward system would encourage teams to finish in higher finishing positions in the league (if the trophy is impossible) and to not have to feel as bad by having a later draft pick. As it stands right now: if you can’t get the trophy, there is no reason to finish as high as possible.
This system would also encourage the entire organisation to care for both of its teams, as everyone can get extra rewards from it.
Of course this is not without some negatives as well. Firstly, it would be an additional off-season admin task to do. It hopefully would not be too much extra, as it is mostly about going through an entire organisation and give everyone the same amount of money.
There are also some concerns with snowballing. I believe they are not that relevant, considering it is money that could be earned by simply doing bounties (most of the time just a single well done writing task or a few graphics). Beyond the 7.5m needed for max training each season and the weak foot upgrades, money becomes a bit pointless afterwards anyway (sticker packs store when?) Would this reduce the number of bounties a person does? Maybe, but the amount of money given can be adjusted to mitigate this issue.
Is any of this really needed?
I think there should definitely be some motivation to finish as high as possible if the league trophy is not a possibility anymore. Giving money, especially with there being no bounty cap anymore to cause balance concerns (especially with the new TPE training limit), is the easiest solution. TPE obviously can’t be given, as that does indeed create actual snowball issues. Other ideas I do not have.
This is obviously not high on the priority list of things to change in the league, especially with the league being busy with more expansions looming in the distance. I, however, would love to see something like this someday.
Bye! (I don’t know how to end this article).
The SSL always strives to make this football/soccer sim league experience try to mimic and be as close to real life football/soccer as possible, while at the same time trying to maximize the amount of fun possible. Due to this, there are a few factors that are not considered, such as injuries.
There is one mechanic that, with the introduction of the unlimited bounty money rule, could make its way into the SSL: better prizes for higher finishing positions in the league.
What would be the point?
The reality of how SSL works is that the only motivation that exists for teams to do as best as they can right now is a trophy for first place. If you are not in first place, then you are literally the first loser. What does being in second give you? An extremely late draft pick. And what motivates teams to not just sandbag their final few matches as soon as they know they can't win the trophy? Well, nothing.
Yes, you are expected to try to win games due to the spirit of the game, otherwise you are boring and will be punished by the BoD with the power of a thousand stars. However, it makes victories not feel as sweet anymore. And well, someone could always just try to hide their sandbagging better.
Incentives
In real life, football/soccer teams try their best to achieve the highest finishing position possible. What are the benefits? They are:
- Monetary incentives
Here we can see a real-life example from the 2023/24 Premier League season. The clubs gained a different payment based on their finishing position, with 2023/24 Premier League winners Manchester City getting the highest total merit payment of 56,4 million pounds. While the very last club in the league only got a mere 2,8 million pounds.
- Continental cups qualification spots
Another big reason for a continued fight for the top spots is the continental cup competitions. In Europe, this would be the champions league, europa league and the european conference league. Getting into them is very important, as they provide even more prize money and a chance for a trophy.
Why now?
There was always a big negative that prevented this from being a potential part of the league earlier. The fear of snowballing and a rich get richer effect.
I believe that, with the removal of the bounty cap (and the TPE training limit), giving extra money should cause less issues due to the fact that it is money that could have just been earned with doing an extra bounty. It does not break the established balance of the league anymore, as it would have before.
Example implementations
Example 1: Reward money based on league finishing position
I’ll start with my favourite potential solution.
In this example, we would reward more money the higher a team finishes in the minor and majors league. To prevent annoying admin work, weird team switching and to promote locker rooms to cheer for both of their teams, whatever money is earned is given to every registered player equally.
Let us make an example for a scenario if this was implemented last season (and if last season already had a bounty cap removal).
Here I made an example where the worst minors team gets 100k, and it increments by 100k each position. Majors worst team starts with 800k, so that it prevents people putting their better players in minors to get a higher payday.
Our example player here will be North’s Thomas Hohenhahn, who played for Kaapstadt last season. At the end of the season, Hohenhahn would be 1,7m richer, due to Kaapstad earning 700k and Hollywood earning 1,1m.
The prize money can be adjusted based on what seems right. Maybe last two places get the same prize money, maybe first two places get the prize money, maybe there are smaller increments.
The richest players here would come from the Schwarz+Montreal organisation, where they would have been 2.2m richer. That is close to best case scenario and it’s basically just equivalent to being very slightly better than an excellent graded 500k base bounty. And of course, this is with my own numbers. 2.2m extra money for a brilliant season is not balance breaking but it would make every player in the organization feel even better about achieving a great result, and there would be a real point to always try for a higher finishing position.
What about the cup? Well, I’d say it’s not needed there. Every match is a fight for the trophy and there are no rewards for going out early (unlike in the league, where a lower finishing position results in a faster draft pick), so there is always a reason to try to win. Adding prize money for the cup would also result in perhaps a bit too much money for the best teams (as the better teams tend to advance more often, even considering the fact there are usually a lot of upsets in the cup).
Example 2: Reward money based on cup results, with the league acting as a placement incentive only
This example I like way less, but it has some merit. League finishing positions only has a tiny effect on when teams enter the cup, with the current setup making it so that only the lowest minors’ teams must go into preliminaries. So, the issue of inconsequential league finishing positions would still remain.
Currently, the cup has a preliminaries stage, then R16, quarters, semis and finals. In this scenario, we could reward 100k for preliminaries, 200k for R16 and so on. Again, both of an organisation’s teams would earn the money for all the players in the organisation.
This would make the cup more important, which is always nice. However, I don’t think the cup has an issue with matches not being important, as teams always have a chance to advance to the next stage and fight for the trophy while they are still in the competition. The league part would not see any improvement, where the main issues lie. The only way the league could promote more competitiveness this way is by completely changing how teams enter the cup. Maybe make it seeded? Best teams face off against the worst. This would likely lead to very painful games of 1st place majors competing against last place minors though.
An alternative would be bringing a form of group stage back and seed it there to mitigate the amount of one sided games and to give smaller teams more of a fighting chance.
This is already getting perhaps a bit too complex though, let’s move on.
Example 3: Reward money for... both?
I guess you could combine both examples together and just keep the cup the way it is right now. We would perhaps start to enter in territory where there is too much money handed around to the best teams each season though.
Example 4: Add the money to transfer budget instead
This one is honestly just a bit boring for the players, but it could be situationally useful to an organisation. Instead of rewarding players with money, the organisation itself could get more money added to their transfer budget at the end of the season.
In all honesty, it is still quite boring, but it might be an interesting idea if the transfer system were ever to become more advanced.
What are the consequences?
As mentioned, a reward system would encourage teams to finish in higher finishing positions in the league (if the trophy is impossible) and to not have to feel as bad by having a later draft pick. As it stands right now: if you can’t get the trophy, there is no reason to finish as high as possible.
This system would also encourage the entire organisation to care for both of its teams, as everyone can get extra rewards from it.
Of course this is not without some negatives as well. Firstly, it would be an additional off-season admin task to do. It hopefully would not be too much extra, as it is mostly about going through an entire organisation and give everyone the same amount of money.
There are also some concerns with snowballing. I believe they are not that relevant, considering it is money that could be earned by simply doing bounties (most of the time just a single well done writing task or a few graphics). Beyond the 7.5m needed for max training each season and the weak foot upgrades, money becomes a bit pointless afterwards anyway (sticker packs store when?) Would this reduce the number of bounties a person does? Maybe, but the amount of money given can be adjusted to mitigate this issue.
Is any of this really needed?
I think there should definitely be some motivation to finish as high as possible if the league trophy is not a possibility anymore. Giving money, especially with there being no bounty cap anymore to cause balance concerns (especially with the new TPE training limit), is the easiest solution. TPE obviously can’t be given, as that does indeed create actual snowball issues. Other ideas I do not have.
This is obviously not high on the priority list of things to change in the league, especially with the league being busy with more expansions looming in the distance. I, however, would love to see something like this someday.
Bye! (I don’t know how to end this article).
![[Image: qgFfIx6.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qgFfIx6.png)
