This seems like an easy enough question but I am asking from a specific perspective, as from my perspective, there is no easy answer. From the easy perspective, the answer is likely determined initially by the average talent value of the user's team, in relation to the country that the user is playing in and the tier that they are playing at. From there, the contract renewal will be determined by the game play of the user in how they perform in both league and cup action that are active and not omitted from history. This last point is significant. Normally, the league files are small enough that the league file can dictate how the league will be played. Sometimes, there are league files that have too many teams in them and the league file can not be used to dictate how the league will be played. Such league files can be found in the South American definitions.
In this case, I'm referencing the third tier in the Peru definitions (peru3), which has about 56 teams in the league file, titled the Copa Peru. When the Copa Peru will be run, those 56 teams will be divided into 8 groups of 7 teams each. So as the league file has 56 teams in it and the league file will not be used to dictate how the league will be played, it has some additional properties that are not normally used in normal league files: "inactive" and "omit_from_history". Additionally, as cup files must be used to run the league, the first cup file used that contains the loading of all 56 teams and how their game play will be organized, is the cup file of peru_elim. In this file, the 56 teams are divided into 8 groups of 7 teams per group and they play three rounds of games, so 18 games in total each. This cup file also has a property of "omit_from_history", but its reason is twofold. Basically as this cup file is just an elimination cup to determine which teams will progress further in the competition, knowing who "won" this cup is not important. Though I believe it is also necessary since when this cup has run its course, it will cause an error with the history function since this cup has 8 groups and no one team will be set apart as being the "champion" or winner of this cup, as there will equally be 8 different winners of each of the 8 groups that played in this cup. So for a team selected from such an instance like what is available in the peru3 league file, no record will be saved as the league file AND the first cup file used for the league file both have "omit_from_history". And I guess this is why I'm experiencing the issues I am experiencing, with regards to the sponsor renewals.
Right now, I've got a game going where I started off in the third tier of Peru and after 4 complete seasons, I have seen some interesting things. To begin with, I'm currently in the 2nd tier at Season 5, week 14, round 1, and have yet to play my first game in season 5. When checking my user history under the "Stats" menu option, it says the following for the subsequent years:
- Season 1, week 1 - You start the game with Aurora in the Copa Peru.
- Season 1, week 1 - You reach the Round robin (round 1) of the Copa Peru.
- Season 2, week 1 - You finish the season in the Copa Peru on rank 0.
- Season 2, week 45 - You win the Copa Peru final against Diablos R..
- Season 3, week 1 - You finish the season in the Copa Peru on rank 0.
- Season 3, week 1 - You get promoted to the Primera Division.
- Season 4, week 1 - You finish the season in the Primera Division on rank 14.
- Season 4, week 1 - You get relegated to the Segunda Division.
- Season 5, week 1 - You finish the season in the Segunda Division on rank 3.
Ok. So that's basically my user history. I started off in tier 3 in season 1. In season 2, I ended up winning the 3rd tier and qualified to get promoted to the top tier. In season 3, I was totally outclassed by the other teams that had far superior average talent values in comparison to me and lost horribly. I was later relegated to tier 2 for the 4th season. In season 3, I came in 14th place out of 14 teams, with a record of W4 D3 L45, for a total of 15 pts in 52 games. My team somehow achieved 30 goals for with 201 goals against. I should add that up to this point, I was letting the computer play the games for me, as I was just doing testing with the definitions. For the 4th season, I let the computer play my matches until I had about 9 matches left, then played them myself, to end up in 3rd place. For the 5th season, I have yet to play a single match yet, but am up to week 14 in the 5th season.
With regards to my sponsor contracts, I started off with a contract value of $32,200/wk for 20.0 months. When my contract renewal came up in season 2, week 24, my sponsor said they were satisfied with my results and was offered $31,900/wk for 17.0 months, which I accepted. When my contract renewal came up for a 2nd time in season 3, week 35, I was offered $23,500/wk for 33.0 months, even though the sponsor said they were satisfied with my results. Of course for obvious reasons, I turned down the 2nd renewal.
To give a little context, I've collected a few stats which might explain my disbelief here.
To begin with, I wrote down my average talent values at the beginning of each season, before any training took place. In season 1, week 1, my average talent value for my team was 49.6 avg for the 17 players on my team. If you include the 2 youth recruits in my academy, the average drops to 46.3 avg. For season 2, week 1, my average talent value for my team was 49.9 avg. In season 3, week 1, my average talent value for my team was 52.8 avg. And for seasons 4 and 5 respectively, my average talent values for my team were 60.7 avg and 68.2 avg.Now to be fair, I should say that at the time of the 2nd sponsor renewal at season 3, week 35, I was in 14th place of 14 teams, and I had a record of W2 D1 L34 for 7 pts after 37 games. My team was able to achieve 16 goals for with 155 goals against, up to that point. So even though I was doing so terribly in the first tier, I would have believed that any offer would have been relative to the tier I was in and not something that was lower than what I received in the 3rd tier. Of note, the average talent values for the tiers themselves in my definitions were 7700 for tier 1, 6700 for tier 2, and 5700 for tier 3.
Now even though my 2nd sponsor renewal came when I was in tier 1 in Season 3, week 35 and I turned it down, I only went from tier 1 to tier 2 in the subsequent season and remain in the 2nd tier for season 5. Since that 2nd sponsor renewal offer, I have refused all subsequent sponsor contract offers as they have been in the range of 20,000+/wk to about 35,000/wk on average, even though I am in a higher tier than when I first started. So, this begs the question of what is going on and how are the sponsor contracts figured out? And even though I was in a much higher tier for the 3rd season, would that not allow me a better sponsor contract, even though my record that season was unfortunately bad?
So how this all relates to the use of inactive leagues and cup files with "omit_from_history" properties is something I want to look at further, to see if it can be resolved in another manner. But another interesting thing I'll be looking at is how will the youth academy work when I don't have any sponsor contract but will only go by my attendance numbers. I'll see how that works out too.
These are all interesting questions and hopefully some answers can be had.So until then, I'll see what happens or if someone with some knowledge gives me a reply.
Will aka will_the_canuck
PS - If wanted, I can upload the related saved game file or you can always just try the Peru definitions yourself to see, although you'll have some international cups which will be different from what I have.
Current saved game file size is just under 600k. And I should add that this is from using bygfoot version 2.3.2.