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Like I mentioned, I don't think there's much of an advantage with the income since the lost playoff revenue probably comes back in the course of the following season. That's why adding one extra scrimmage for training would essentially make the difference between 5th and 6th place a near wash. The only remaining differences would come if a relegation playoff went to a tie breaker game, the slightly better draft pick, and the anxiety of possibly relegating if home court advantage isn't enough to help your team win the playoff. If that's all the difference there was, I'd probably never intentionally try to lose games just to fall into 6th place.

So, would receiving one extra game for training make 5th place so much more desirable? Asked like that, then no, it's not really all that much. But it may be a big enough thing that tips the decision for a lot of teams to actually not lose games and try to avoid a relegation playoff. So I'd rather ask the question... Would scheduling one extra game for training purposes be such a big deal if it may significantly add to the integrity of the game?

If it adds to the integrity of the game, then fair enough. But personally I don't think that 1 extra game makes much difference. I like to train FT and stamina during this time anyway so I guess for me it doesn't make a difference whether there is 2 games or 3, except for Game Shape. But personally, I would still much rather be in 6th place, you would get extra training (if it went to a tie breaker), you would get extra income, you get a better draft pick, and as long as you have a better team than the 7th place, you are virtually gauranteed to not relegate. In which case coming 6th is still a much bigger advantage than coming 5th in my opinion.

Different managers will draw that line differently according to their own thoughts on how important it is to avoid a relegation playoff. As I mentioned, the money issue isn't really an advantage since the final place int he standing has a small influence on attendance the following season that makes the playoff income advantage really a wash. We all know the draft advantage isn't so valuable given what the prevailing opinion on the draft is these days (read other threads for those complaints...). For me personally, that extra training game is probably the tipping point since I know from my experience this season, the first time I was truly on the cusp between 5th and 6th place, that I really was undecided on whether or not to throw games so I could finish in 6th, and wanting to get that little bit of extra training would have pushed me to just go for 5th. (In the end, I halfheartedly decided to go for 6th even though I hate losing, but failed and finished 5th.)

Like I mentioned, I don't think there's much of an advantage with the income since the lost playoff revenue probably comes back in the course of the following season. That's why adding one extra scrimmage for training would essentially make the difference between 5th and 6th place a near wash

and for my team, i would say the difference betwen a season where i earn something or not, flying out of the first round of the PO amke me loose -900k the next to week, with a weekly income of 50-130 this is a lot ;) Playing a three game relegation series, give me and extra income of 1 Mio which gets me through the offseason.

if you're playing in a relegation series, you need to play your top guys in order to stay in the division, which would be no guarantee...if you finish 5th and get 3 scrimmages for training, you can rest your stars/veterans and play your trainees, backups and scrubs...you won't need to care about winning

Excellent point, though I don't see how a team would get 3 scrimmages in a week. The last game of the season is on a Saturday, and there's a scrimmage on the following Thursday, so an extra scrimmage would only make it two. And anyway, don't we have this same situation already to a greater degree during the regular season? Some teams are alive in the Cup tournament and taking in a modest income (typically less than for a relegation playoff) while teams that are eliminated get to scrimmage, getting no cash but also playing scrubs for training without worry of winning. The proposed scrimmage for 5th place teams would be in lieu of greater payout of a relegation playoff (compared to a Cup). I wouldn't propose a scrimmage for the Tuesday in the following week, only for just that first Tuesday when the first relegation playoff games are played, and that's the only addition.

That is assuming the relegation series goes to 3 games.

The series started last tuesday (game 1). If you close out the series on game 2 (sat), you will NOT have a game on next tues (game 3) before a scrimmage on thurs. Thus next training week is also a 2 game week

If you go to game 3, you will have a game on next tues and then a scrimmage on thurs as well making it a 3 game training week

So depending on that, you may get 1-2 weeks of more training minutes for playing relegation series

Last edited by Monkeybiz at 3/10/2010 9:56:38 PM

Fair enough if you are planning to tank to go to the relegation series just for the extra income/training minutes.

But there is 2 decisions that need to be made here.

1. Do you want to tank to get to 6th for relegation series rather than try to finish 5th or possibly higher (You get less income incoming 4th than you do 6th but something is better than nothing). You must also consider who finishes 7th on the other conference and whether you actually feel comfortable trying to beat them in a series.

2.If you do decide to tank, do you want a 2 game series or a 3 game series? If you finished 6th, that is an additional game of income for a 3 game series (well 2/3rds of it anyway) but there is also risk you might lose instead. It really depends on your situation. If you are confident you can knock out 7th with out a sweat then I would go for 3 games but if the 2 teams are similar in strength, I would try wrap it up in 2 and wouldn't want to tank a game and risk the chance that I actually would lose a game I play my starters at.