Team finances are governed by income and expenses. The basic idea is to keep revenue higher than expenses.
You can view your team's finances by going to your Team Menu > Owner > Team Finances.
You can also get an overview of all the team's finances by going to the League Menu > Team Finances.
Attendance is the primary driver of revenue. The more fans are interested in your team, the more you'll make in revenue. Other income sources like TV, Merchandise, Parking, and Concessions are driven by overall attendance.
Attendance is primarily determined by each team's win-loss record over the last 40 games. The higher the combined winning percentage for the two teams in the game, the higher the attendance.
Tanking, in addition to creating a low winning percentage, will also cause a team's attendance to plummet to somewhere below 1,000 per game. If the team on the field looks like a minor league team, it will draw like a minor league team.
More about Tanking.
A lower owner reputation will decrease attendance, and a higher reputation will help boost it.
More about Owner Reputation.
Team revenue is earned throughout the year, but most revenue is earned during the regular season,during home games. Since half a team's games are away, revenue decreases significanlty during road trips.
| Home Team Portion | Away Team Portion | |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket Sales | 75% | 25% |
| TV | 75% | 25% |
| Concessions | 75% | 25% |
| Merchandise | 100% | 0% |
| Parking | 100% | 0% |
The regular season revenue is accrued over the course of 162 games, and fluctuates with team performance, and home-away splits.
Post season revenue is accrued for however long a team stays in the post-season, and only fluctuates with home-away splits.
During the off-season, team revenue comes from merchandise sales, which are influenced by how well they did during the previous season. The World Series winner is awarded the most off-season revenue, while the worst team earns the least.
Also during the offseason, qualifying teams will receive an equal portion of any luxury tax collected.
More about the Luxury Tax.
Operating expenses for a team fall into overhead, payroll, and the payroll-related luxury tax. While overhead is standard for every team, payroll is within the team owner's control.
Every team pays the same amount in overhead across several areas. They are:
| Baseball Operations: | $25M |
| Scouting: | $25M |
| Manager: | $1.5M |
| Medical Staff: | $2M |
| Minors Staff: | $2M |
| Promotions: | $500K |
| Total: | $56M |
|---|
Team payroll is typically the largest expense for a baseball team. With up to 40 players on a roster, those contracts add up quickly. Most teams will have a payroll between $100M--$150M.
For teams with higher payrolls, or who have signed a free-agent to a high salary, a luxury tax may be triggered.
The luxury tax rate increases as a team's payroll increases. For most teams, with a payroll between $100M and $150M, the payroll tax expense will be between $0 and $7.5M.
More about the Luxury Tax.
Ideally, a team will earn more in revenue than it spends in expenses, creating a surplus, which is referred to as Cash. A team's cash reserves will fluctuate throughout the season, being more rapidly depleted during away games (where revenue is lower) and replenishing more quickly during home games.
Cash can also be spent as compensation in trades.
Teams with cash deficits are unable to bid more than $250K on free-agents, or offer more than a $250K extension to a current player. Deficits are created when a team's expenses exceed revenue, and the cash reserves are depleted to a negative balance.
Running a consistent deficit also has a negative effect on an owner's reputation.
More about Owner Reputation.
Additionally, if a human-owned team reaches a deficit of $100M (cash of -$100M) or greater a special auction of the team's players is triggered, as well as a renegotiation of each of their contracts. The Auction is used to replenish the team's cash, and the rengotiated contracts are designed to make excessively high-priced players accessible for other teams.