I want to argue why the contracts system in this league doesn’t work great, and why we need to overhaul the cap system to make contracts more valuable. Right now, a lot of people in the league seem concerned that the biggest issue facing the ISFL is how devalued contracts are. In the real NFL, contracts are at least the number 2 consideration in all player decisions, largely because they are a huge source of income and teams never have enough cap space to sign everyone to whatever contracts they want. You would expect this would be true in a simulation league as well, however in this league players are incentivized to take minimum contracts under the belief that it grants their team flexibility in free agency and because they can earn more money through consistent media, twitter, jobs, and graphics. However, I think one of the biggest problems with contracts is how low value they are to begin with. Most contracts in this league range between 2 million and 4 million. This is not even enough money to pay for weekly training every week, let alone purchase any equipment. As a result, players start from the point of view that the contract is not a key source of income. If we raise the cap, and raise contracts proportionally, they will be more valuable by nature of being, well, more valuable. A 10 million dollar contract versus a 4 million dollar contract suddenly creates a target worth negotiating for, because that money can actually be used for something. I think this is the simplest and most effective way to deal with the devaluation of contracts by the community.
278 words.
278 words.