I've been playing this game for a few months now, and honestly I think it's pretty great. It's fun, there's new results to look at every day, the transfer market is quite engaging once you learn the nuances of player values, And you do get a genuine sense of progression whether you're a paid member or not, for the most part. After observing how the game operates throughout this time, and trying to learn the ins and outs on at least a semi decent level, I've found that there is probably only one major thing I would want to change. While I haven't seen it yet in navigating this forum, I presume it is probably something that has been mentioned before. I believe that there should be no stadium size limit for non-premium clubs, and I would like to support this suggestion with some numbers and examples.
As it stands now, the maximum that a non-premium user can earn from ticket sales at a home match is 9,000 credits (that's the maximum 1,000 seats all filled at the maximum 9 credits per ticket). Over the course of fifteen home matches in a season, a non-premium club stands to earn a maximum of 135,000 credits per season (only counting league games, though a few more can be added for cup play).
This is not really a problem when a club is first starting out, and their supporter numbers are so low that they couldn't fill a thousand-seat stadium anyway. However, it does not take very long to be capping your stadium capacity in every match, even with a VIFA rank not yet surpassing 3,500 in my experience. Past a certain amount of supporters, non-premium clubs can no longer make as much money, and while there have to be some reasons for people to buy premium, I believe that this is something which causes a definite imbalance in the game, with ticket sales being the most significant portion of a club's income. The further a non-premium club progresses, the greater the imbalance becomes, and their progress slows at a staggering rate.
I am only in Division 4 of the Brazilian league, and even at this low level the disparity is significant. I am sitting on 5,352 VIFA points, and I will compare with a fellow league member, Møberg, currently on 5,371. Not calling anyone out or anything, this was just a very convenient example of a team in the same Division 4 league as me with an almost identical VIFA point tally, and very similar supporter numbers, just over 1,000.
In the next match I have scheduled with them which will be played at home, the estimated spectator count is, of course, 990 (I'm not actually sure if there is a pattern in which you can get your stadium upgrades to hit 1,000 exactly, but evidently I failed to do that lol) at a price of 9 credits per ticket, for a total of 8,910. On the other hand, the last match I played with them was an away match at their stadium, at which 1,686 tickets were sold. Even if all those tickets were sold at only 6 credits a pop, that would still be a total of 10,116. At 9 a piece, it would be 15,174 credits of ticket sales.
The last match between the current top two in the group sold 4,500 tickets (22,500 credits minimum, 40,500 credits maximum). The next one has a projected turnout of 7,700 - 9,400 spectators at the bare minimum 5 credits a ticket, but that still nets a revenue of 38,500 - 47,000 credits (and being in a 9,400 capacity stadium, I'm guessing it will be closer to the latter figure). These are all differences within the same Division 4 group; even at this low level there is a significant imbalance of the game's main source of income, and as you go up the divisions the imbalance just increases exponentially. There is a secondary income opportunity in trading players, but (1) the transfer market, as I've experienced, is exceptionally competitive and it is very difficult to sell bought players for a profit, considering the amount spent on them in wages, and (2) non-premium teams can't recruit youth players or effectively train them up, which removes the most effective method of profiting in the transfer market as well.
I'd just like to clarify: again, I respect that there has to be some reason to go for premium. Not only that, but I actually am looking to get premium sometime in the near future, so after a certain point this suggestion might not even apply to me anymore. I'm not just suggesting this because I am a non-premium club, as easy as it might be to assume so. I am just trying to speak towards the state of the game on a whole. I do genuinely believe that the limit to stadium capacity is very harsh towards younger clubs after a couple of months of getting into the game, as well as a constantly unbalancing force that gets exponentially worse the further up in the Divisions one looks. With the limitations non-premium clubs experience surrounding training grounds, trainers, form analytics, youth players, roster sizes, etc... There are already enough reasons to get premium, and the stadium capacity cap is just excessive, in my opinion. At the very least, only 1,000 spectators is extremely harsh and becomes an ever-growing burden very quickly.
As it stands now, the maximum that a non-premium user can earn from ticket sales at a home match is 9,000 credits (that's the maximum 1,000 seats all filled at the maximum 9 credits per ticket). Over the course of fifteen home matches in a season, a non-premium club stands to earn a maximum of 135,000 credits per season (only counting league games, though a few more can be added for cup play).
This is not really a problem when a club is first starting out, and their supporter numbers are so low that they couldn't fill a thousand-seat stadium anyway. However, it does not take very long to be capping your stadium capacity in every match, even with a VIFA rank not yet surpassing 3,500 in my experience. Past a certain amount of supporters, non-premium clubs can no longer make as much money, and while there have to be some reasons for people to buy premium, I believe that this is something which causes a definite imbalance in the game, with ticket sales being the most significant portion of a club's income. The further a non-premium club progresses, the greater the imbalance becomes, and their progress slows at a staggering rate.
I am only in Division 4 of the Brazilian league, and even at this low level the disparity is significant. I am sitting on 5,352 VIFA points, and I will compare with a fellow league member, Møberg, currently on 5,371. Not calling anyone out or anything, this was just a very convenient example of a team in the same Division 4 league as me with an almost identical VIFA point tally, and very similar supporter numbers, just over 1,000.
In the next match I have scheduled with them which will be played at home, the estimated spectator count is, of course, 990 (I'm not actually sure if there is a pattern in which you can get your stadium upgrades to hit 1,000 exactly, but evidently I failed to do that lol) at a price of 9 credits per ticket, for a total of 8,910. On the other hand, the last match I played with them was an away match at their stadium, at which 1,686 tickets were sold. Even if all those tickets were sold at only 6 credits a pop, that would still be a total of 10,116. At 9 a piece, it would be 15,174 credits of ticket sales.
The last match between the current top two in the group sold 4,500 tickets (22,500 credits minimum, 40,500 credits maximum). The next one has a projected turnout of 7,700 - 9,400 spectators at the bare minimum 5 credits a ticket, but that still nets a revenue of 38,500 - 47,000 credits (and being in a 9,400 capacity stadium, I'm guessing it will be closer to the latter figure). These are all differences within the same Division 4 group; even at this low level there is a significant imbalance of the game's main source of income, and as you go up the divisions the imbalance just increases exponentially. There is a secondary income opportunity in trading players, but (1) the transfer market, as I've experienced, is exceptionally competitive and it is very difficult to sell bought players for a profit, considering the amount spent on them in wages, and (2) non-premium teams can't recruit youth players or effectively train them up, which removes the most effective method of profiting in the transfer market as well.
I'd just like to clarify: again, I respect that there has to be some reason to go for premium. Not only that, but I actually am looking to get premium sometime in the near future, so after a certain point this suggestion might not even apply to me anymore. I'm not just suggesting this because I am a non-premium club, as easy as it might be to assume so. I am just trying to speak towards the state of the game on a whole. I do genuinely believe that the limit to stadium capacity is very harsh towards younger clubs after a couple of months of getting into the game, as well as a constantly unbalancing force that gets exponentially worse the further up in the Divisions one looks. With the limitations non-premium clubs experience surrounding training grounds, trainers, form analytics, youth players, roster sizes, etc... There are already enough reasons to get premium, and the stadium capacity cap is just excessive, in my opinion. At the very least, only 1,000 spectators is extremely harsh and becomes an ever-growing burden very quickly.