Retro Bowl Front Office Guide: Salary Cap, Facilities, Morale and Fan Support

Retro Bowl's front office is where games are won before kick-off, and it is easy to skim. Four numbers run the whole thing: the salary cap, the facility levels, player morale and fan support. Here is what each one does and what to spend your first credits on.

Fan support

Fan support is the owner's patience and your budget rolled into one figure. It rises when you win, when you make the playoffs and when you keep popular players; it drops when you lose, when you trade a fan favourite and when you give a press conference badly. A high rating unlocks more spending on facilities and lets you carry a bigger wage bill. Drop too low for too long and the owner fires you, which resets the whole save. The first rule of Retro Bowl management is to keep this number moving up.

The salary cap

Every player's contract counts against the cap, and the cap is tight enough that a roster full of stars is impossible. The trick is that the same ability costs very different amounts depending on the contract. A rookie on his first deal is cheap for three seasons; the same player on his second deal costs two or three times as much. So the rhythm of a well-run team is draft, develop, win with the players while they are cheap, then either extend the ones you cannot replace or let the rest walk and draft again.

• Extend a key player a season before his contract ends. His asking price rises sharply in the final year.
• Release veterans whose ability no longer matches their wage. The cap room does more for you than they do.
• Do not sign a free agent to a long deal at a position where you have a high-potential rookie. You will be paying two people for one job.

Facilities

1. Training facility. Upgrade this first. It sets how fast players grow toward their potential, which is what turns cheap rookies into stars. Every other decision depends on it.
2. Rehab facility. Shortens injuries. Worth a level or two once the roster has players you cannot afford to lose for six weeks.
3. Stadium. Raises fan support. Useful, but expensive, and a winning team raises fan support for free. Leave it until the training facility is done.

Coordinators

The offensive coordinator boosts the growth of your offensive players; the defensive coordinator does the same for the defense and is the only lever you have over a side of the ball you never control. A good defensive coordinator is worth more than a good defensive player, because he improves all of them. Coordinators have contracts too, so keep an eye on when they expire.

Morale

Every player has a morale rating and it changes with playing time, wins, contracts and what you say in press conferences. A player with high morale performs above his rating; one with low morale performs below it and, if he is a star, eventually asks to leave. The press conference after each game is where most morale is won and lost. Praising a player costs nothing. Blaming one for a loss drops his morale immediately. When the question is about the team, answer for the team; when it is about a player, be kind or be neutral.

A first-season plan

1. Pick a bad team with cap room and a top pick.
2. Draft a quarterback with high potential, or a receiver if the quarterback is already there.
3. Spend the first credits on the training facility.
4. Sign one or two cheap veterans to fill the holes that lose games now.
5. Win enough to lift fan support, be pleasant to the press, and extend your best young player before season two.

Do that and the second season is a playoff run. The Retro Bowl itself usually comes in the third.