[FM2015] Custom MLS with 72 teams (3 Levels)

First, congratulations for job .. I'm already in 2028 and the save is still fantastic.

I wonder where you edited for the USA become so competitive, I would like to do something similar in the Brazil Championship. Can You Help?

sorry for my bad english! Thanks

There were several steps I took to accomplish that. The first thing I did was raise the youth rating of the USA. I also raised the reputations of all of the US leagues. I raised the youth facilities of the US clubs so that they produce higher quality players. The large sums of money coming also help the clubs to maintain and improve their facilities.

I did what you said above and found, for now, two obstacles

1: I could not make the teams from one season to another to become billionaires and they spent 100 million transfer window, only when I made the team one 'Sugar Daddy'

2: How did you turn pro USA as well? increased the academies of the clubs and put the Youth Rating at 200 but continues to reveal pretty bad.

I apologize for taking your time and I thank you if you could help. Once again congratulations for the work is just amazing!

Looks interesting. Just to confirm, there's only promotion/relegation for the top three divisions?

Is this being revisited?

Seems to work in my FM16 editor and game, but wondered if you were adding to it?

Is this being revisited?

Seems to work in my FM16 editor and game, but wondered if you were adding to it?

Great, i'll be using this one again this year i think. Might build all the MLS acadamy teams into a 4th amateur division as well.

I am going to be revisiting this, however I'm going to try and avoid creating clubs in the database and instead modifying extinct clubs because of the issues that created club caused with graphics. Currently I'm setting up SS style kits for every active US team in the database and will soon get into modifying the database.

Just a few questions about this database:

1. Players real or fictional? If real, are the expansion teams comprised of fictional players?

2. For MLS promoted teams, which conference are they placed in?

3. With all the money flowing to the clubs and the AI unable to build teams properly in the medium to long-term, the database would appear to be too easy for the user. Any feedback in this regard?

Those are fair questions, and I'll try and answer them as best as possible.

1. The players were real in last years version for the teams in the first 3 levels. The plan is to fill out the "empty" teams in the first three levels again, after that the game itself will fill the squads with fictional players. If someone is interested in filling out and/or creating real players then I would be more than happy to endorse the version they release, however I'm not going to go that far down.

2. The game will be set up to organize the Eastern and Western conferences according to their geographical location by longitude. =

3. The money is something I will be looking at. I'll explain my plans for this years version below, but to answer this I do intend to reduce the income. However, I don't really plan on restricting the revenue for the gamer because the AI can't sort themselves out. One of my overall goals for this file is to enable the development of soccer (football) in the USA to equal that of the European clubs. I want the player to be able to put DC United or the LA Galaxy on par with the Barcelonas, Real Madrids, Bayern Munichs of the world. The difference is, I want for it to be easier for those clubs to have their dominance toppled on the domestic level. In the real world and even in FM, Barcelona is going to be at or near the top of La Liga. This is the case in FM whether or not the player is managing Barcelona (generally speaking). I want a file where the top clubs would be more unpredictable although still allowing the clubs to build quality teams with quality players. If I start trying to drastically restrict revenue for the US clubs because the AI can't figure out how to build a team then the gamer will struggle to build a Barcelona-quality team. That's part of the issue I have with the default MLS, that no matter what you do you will never be able to build a world-class team. The sport in our country is growing exponentially and while projections vary, the hope is that someday the quality of play in the US is on par with that in Europe, South America, etc. In FM, the potential and projected growth of MLS is not reflected.

So with all of the said, a little update on the progress.

-All kits and logos for active clubs in the database are complete. After I have determined which inactive/extinct clubs will be used for newer clubs I will need to create logos and kits for those as well.

-A spreadsheet detailing the changes made to the clubs is well underway, with most of the date for the top 3 divisions completed. I'm not sure yet how specific I want to be with the clubs below, but I do intend on going down to at least the fifth level with an Academy division as well.

Here is how I plan on organizing the structure this year:

-Instead of one MLS with 72 teams, I plan on leaving the current pyramid in tact while also instituting promotion and relegation with a measure of consistency between the top 3 divisions. This means the league structure will have MLS as the top division, followed by NASL, then USL. Each level with have 24 teams split into conferences. Again, four teams (2 in each conference) will promoted and relegated. This year I really want the league championship match/series to be only the winner of each conference. My preference would be to have a one-match championship event at a rotating neutral site. I tried that last year but I couldn't get the rotating site to function correctly without the game being put in ridiculously substandard stadiums. If I can't get it to work, I'll make it a home-away two-leg series.

-Revenue this year will be graduated. Clubs will still get a lot of television money (though not as much as last year), but it will be less the further down the pyramid you get.

-I will also be removing the Canadian teams and placing them into their own pyramid

-I also intend on incorporating the "II" clubs from real life into the pyramid (ie, LA Galaxy II, Sounders 2, Real Monarchs, etc). These clubs will not be allowed to play in the same division as their parent club and will not participate in the US Open Cup.

-I will implement the Academy division, and for the MLS and other clubs that have Academy teams in the database, these will function as their U18 "C" clubs. However, I will also create US Reserve and U18 divisions for clubs that do not have "II" or Academy affiliates in the database.

-I hope to make it possible this year to include the PDL and NPSL in promotion and relegation so that the gamer can take a club from the NPSL and get them promoted to MLS. I want to make that harder, so my idea is for the bottom team from each USL conference would have a playoff against the top two teams from the PDL to give the USL teams a chance to maintain their status as a third division club.

-Eventually in a later version of the database I want to create regional or state leagues to serve as preseason cups.

So there you have it. I will update this thread with my progress.

Thanks for the update. I will load up your current database in FM16 but start one year in the future so as to jump in right when American soccer is ramping up. Is it possible however for the user (I have not looked into the FM16 Editor) to amend your top three levels so as to have two conferences but four divisions comprised of six teams each?

From what you state above, are you implying that sufficient and equitable revenue is the key to a more competitive AI squad? I have always thought that for AI teams the problem is being inefficient with the resources it has, regardless of the level of those resources.

I couldn't say for sure what the answer is to the AI fielding a more competitive team, but I can't see how giving them less money to do it is going to help.

Question for some of you experienced editors... If I were to untick the "Transfer Budget" box in the Finances section, what would determine the club's transfer budget in the opening window? Or would they just not have one.

I just wanted to pop in and say how excited I am for this. Had a blast managing Inter Miami last year.

Thanks for all your work.

Pretty awesome looking file !

One idea that i have had in my mind forever as far as the challenge goes: It would be really neat to be able to compete in South America, rather than North America in the continental competition. Is that sth that you might tackle ?

Update: I have created a file that modifies the extinct clubs into the clubs that needed to be added (and their stadiums).

Teams: Inter Miami, Los Angeles FC, FC Cincinnati, San Francisco City, Memphis Rogues, Bethlehem Steel FC, Orlando City B, Rigo Grande Valley FC Toros.

That's all the clubs I plan on adding.

I have also completed the spreadsheet for the top 3 divisions with the basic guidelines for the 4th and 5th laid out.

Can't wait for this!

Memphis Rogues has me download this.

Uncle Sam,

Please consider increasing foreign player limits (or eliminating them altogether) in your new database in order to help AI teams become more competitive. In playing with your FM15 database, in the first few years there is a limited amount of American talent available compared to the rest of the world. With the massive transfer budgets, the human user is able to buy a significant portion of that talent because a) he is required to because of the foreign player limits and b) the monetary amount the AI will sell their American players can for the most part be met by the human user. The AI team(s) subsequently has more money in to spend but inferior American talent with which to fill out their roster because of the foreign player limits.

I had actually planned on removing the foreign player limits to increase the ability to compete on the international market and for the reasons you mentioned. I think it might also be interesting to see different types of teams, those built on foreign talent and those based on domestic talent.

That is good to hear. Do you have an estimate on the completion of your new database?

This looks great, i've merged the MLB & NFL US databases from dim13's awesome work into one at the min, and might add the NHL franchises.

The new created teams from this will come in great for balancing it out abit more... superb work sir. I think this is the one i intergrated Inter Miami etc from already..

I had actually planned on removing the foreign player limits to increase the ability to compete on the international market and for the reasons you mentioned. I think it might also be interesting to see different types of teams, those built on foreign talent and those based on domestic talent.

If you are removing foreign player limits, do you plan on increasing the minimum number of US homegrowns per team in order to cultivate American trained talent?

If you are removing foreign player limits, do you plan on increasing the minimum number of US homegrowns per team in order to cultivate American trained talent?

Hey Uncle_Sam i was trying to send you a PM but apparently your inbox is full

Any update on this? Really looking forward to giving it a go.

Yes, I am still working on it. This past week has been very busy, as I'm pursuing a master's degree and had one 10-page paper and one 6-page paper to write. But I'm on winter break from both it and my teaching job so I hope to have it wrapped up by January. I also cleared my inbox.

As a fellow grad student, I know that feel.

Thanks for the update. Enjoy your break!

So I'm releasing a Beta of sorts to see if you guys can help me test it out. I haven't run any tests yet but I'm pretty sure that the promotion/relegation from the USL to the NASL isn't going to function as it should. I think the editor's verification process doesn't handle reserve/b teams that are not allowed to play in the same division as the parent club very well. My theory is that it simply refuses to promote them during the testing and doesn't promote the next team as it should. I'm still trying to find an alternative.

It's a beta, so there is still some changes to be made. I plan on implementing PDL and NPSL teams into the mix and make some edits to those clubs, as well as fine the Canadian portion of the file.

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/48fkgj66pwf8f6a/USA_Custom_1.4_4691BE3B-ED5F-455B-898B-F7D764C0A8FB.fmf

Why not go back to the three-tier MLS league?

Update: Everything is functioning properly. All-in-all there are six levels (24-24-24-36-72-72) with a U-23 division and a U-18 division. All B/II/Reserve/Academy teams have been removed, so all the clubs have a sort of "even playing field". I'm slapping together a pyramid for Canada, although it won't be as detailed. If someone wants to take the Canadian clubs and add some detail let me know.

Is there a link for the update ? I would like to help you for the Canadian championship... What may I bring as ideas?

Well the main details I would be looking to fill out are things like stadiums, complete with longitude-latitude, jersey colors, etc. Mostly just completing the data.