Fan Survey
"A tough day at the office is even tougher when your office contains spectator seating"
When BuzzerBeater fans don't like the way you are running your team, they are less likely to buy merchandise and attend your games. Even worse, some of them will change loyalties and support competing teams! Conversely, fans will reward a well-run team with their attention, and their money. A skilled PR-Manager may be able to help fans focus more on your team's achievements, and less on its shortcomings.
Three times per week, your team's PR-manager conducts a survey of fans. As the survey is based on a small sample of fans, beware that the results may not be complete accurate. The survey consists of 9 standard questions, and the responses are tallied into a single rating, ranging from 0 to 5 basketballs.
Questions 1 and 2 ask about the team's performance during the previous season, and the current season. Whether your team went winless or won the championship the previous year, fans tend to gradually forget about it, and turn their attention to the current season.
Question 3 is about the current season's National Tournament. Beware that fans of top division teams tend to take early exits from the cup very badly.
Questions 4-6 ask about the team's performance in recent games. BuzzerBeater fans are notoriously fickle, and their opinion of your team can swing dramatically on the outcome of a single game. In addition to the most recent game league game, fans also form deep impressions based on your last televised game, and your last game against your hated conference rival. Each season, fans reserve the right to change their mind about which team they view as their rival.
Questions 7 and 8 pertain directly to the general manager's actions. Some fans prefer you to win with homegrown talent, take a very long time to warm up to new acquisitions, and react very negatively when you place their favorite players on the transfer list. Other fans will criticize you for maintaining a stagnant roster and under-utilizing the transfer list. When considering the response to these two questions, it may be useful to remember the old adage, "you can't please all the people all of the time."
The final question is the most important, as it asks the fans whether they are generally happy with the team, its performance, its players, and its general manager.
Fans will not tolerate long losing streaks, especially if a team has the funds to prevent them. They will boycott teams that don’t have at least one victory in each third of the season, effectively reducing the amount of sold tickets of upcoming home games! This means that tickets might be reduced by as much as 30%, depending on current team funds. More specifically, the percentages based on the funds are as follows:
- Under $500k = 0%
- $500k - 750k = 3%
- $750k - 1M = 6%
- $1M - 1,5M = 9%
- $1,5M - 2,25M = 12%
- $2,25M - 3M = 15%
- 3M - 4M = 18%
- 4M - 5M = 21%
- 5M - 7M = 24%
- 7M - 10M = 27%
- over 10M = 30%
The effect of the boycott will be reduced by 3% after each home match, as the fans cool down. Should there be another boycott while the existing one still lasts, the effects will be added together (maxing out at 30%).
The effect of the boycott is determined after each third of the season, based on the funds available at that moment. New teams need not worry about this during their first two seasons, while their fan base is still forming.