Commercial/Merchandising Feeder Clubs - Discussion

Rossfest

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This is a thread to discuss the merchandising benefits of a commercial feeder club. Please post your results and any experience you have had.

So I'm Cardiff City in the October of my 4th season. I have asked my board to form a link with another club for merchandising purposes. The options given were:

Club Country Reputation Fee

Portland. USA. Continental 2.5mil
Sakai FC Japan Continental 2.36mil
Funabashi Japan Continental 2mil
Sting Chiba Japan National 996k
Niigata Japan National 665k

So I decided to take a punt on the MLS and chose Portland. (probably more expensive than rewarding right now but we'll see) Now my Cardiff team are still an improving team and Im sure as my reputation increases and the more reputable players I have the more money I will make. But as things stand Im your average side pushing for Europe, first season in the prem I finished 6th, second season suffered from fixture pile up and small squad in europe and finished 8th.

My current monthly income from merchandising stands at about 160k. Last season taking in 1.8mil in total.

I will keep updating this thread as each month ends and let you know how it goes.
 
from my understanding...you only get a small boost, but will get a large temporary boost when signing a world class player.

Pretty sure it doesn't matter what country you pick.
 
from my understanding...you only get a small boost, but will get a large temporary boost when signing a world class player.

Pretty sure it doesn't matter what country you pick.

yeah Im not sure either, Im pretty sure I over think the depth of this game at times but want to put my results down so others can make the call if its worth overthinking it
 
I'd actually really appreciate it to see how your merc sales change through the seasons. It never really seemed like a good investment to me so lets hope it pays off.
 
I would like to add that my clubs reputation is currently national. I will also let you know as that changes and how it impacts my merchandise figures
 
Oddly enough I've just taken a major interest in this as I want to make my Liverpool squad completely reliable on income and remove the debt and make it the most succesful team possible.

I've signed Honda from CSKA in my second season and I did notice a rise in my income, I believe it went up by about 500k. Im in the middle of signing Heung-Min Son, its late January. I havent gotten a feeder club yet in either Japan or South Korea as I usually aim for China which has a larger population and I've found it does influence then again it could be just game fluctuations.

I'll post my results...if I remember :)
 
Well so far I seem to have noticed a small rise in my merchandising income. My monthly income obviously fluctuates but i seem to be consistently making about 10% more. I also signed Tim Howard on a free in the January transfer window so this could also be a reason as he is American with a Continental reputation. He may have made a biggger impact in my sales if he was in the US national team (he's a bit old and **** I only signed him as a test). Im still on the hunt for my first globaly recognized player to really kick off shirt sales but it may take a while for my mighty Cardiff to get there.

I will re post at the start of next season when I get my off season income in.
 
Just a quick post, with Honda in my team I've noticed my merchandising gone up by 500k a month.

My merchandising brought in about 9mil in my first season and im on course to make 15mil this season. The fact I won the league first season and europa league would have a large impact on that aswell but as I said, Honda has seemed to increase so its just something I'd wanna see developing. I had to pay alot of fee's over 48months. I'm hoping by the end of that period of time to have no fee's owed, have a few players from different countries and have 2 business feeder links. I should be on my 4th season by end of next week (Start of June). Unemployment has its perks
 
So my 4th season just finished. I finished in 7th... not a great achievement especially as West Brom finished 11th but won the league cup thus knocking me out of the 7th qualifying spot. Booo. But I think it gives me a pretty consistent standing to measure my merchandising income.

So after investing 2.3mil into a commercial feeder club it has made a meagre 200k difference in 8months. Thus confirming my expectations that unless you are atleast a continental reputation club or are lucky enough to sign world class players that boost shirt sales its probably not worth it. However after playing the game for many many many (too many) years commercial feeder clubs can be a strange entity that boards sometimes reject for no good reason so I'd always advise sorting it out sooner rather than later and getting the foundation set so when you do climb the ladder to a world renowned club you get the financial benefits straight away.

I am enjoying this slow financially responsible save though and making a profit of over 10mil each year so Ill keep posting on here as my fortunes change.
 
I am now wondering if commercial links make a difference in the sponsorships you can attract.... My shirt sponsor deals in the summer between my 4th and 5th season have just increased from 436k to 2.57mil per anum. Thats a pretty big boost considering my club has essentially remained stale in terms of growth elsewhere. (finishing 6th-8th-7th in the prem)
 
Hmm this is really interesting. I could definitely see your sponsorships getting larger due to the greater commercial link throughout the world. Ya gota think, it's fair to doubt that SI put this into the game with the purpose of making you lose money, so somewhere and somehow it's gota be at least able to make you some money. One idea I've got is to pick a team to coach and pick a nationality of the country you'd like to have a commercial link to. Like, since I'm American, I always have my guy as American, and after a few seasons I usually bring in some American youth to try and indirectly help the national team. With the addition of a commercial link to a MLS club we might really bring my a lot more money in the long run.
 
Ok so I have signed Timothy Chandler who is playing right back in the US national team. My clubs reputation is still national, my stature within the game remains about the same but I have noticed a significant spike in my merchandising of 120k per month. Considering my merchandising revenue is so low that an increase of about 70%.

Thats not bad and seeing as Chandler was rotting in the reserves at Dortmund. His own shirt sales over a season will pay for his transfer fee. :) happy days.
 
I added a second commercial link in Japan with Funabashi Bandits. It has made a very small difference in my monthly merchandising income. I really don't think its financially rewarding unless you have a World Class player (of which I have zero)
Or a top player from the same region. Lets see if I get a spike in sponsorship at the start of the next season though.
 
Top signings (continental +) and players from regions like Asia and the U.S. create a merchandising spike and with the players from regions, a long term increase, also the higher the rep you have the more merchandising. The merchandising clubs amplify those effects and the region effects are even larger if you have merchandising club there, I'd advise you get one in China before going anywhere else.
 
View attachment 344900

My merchandise sales from last season were 20million, This season I added LA Galaxy to my feeder teams. A decent sized club with money. I'll let you know at the end of the season how much my merchandising improved on that 20million.
 
Jesus Christ who did you sell??? lol

what? If you mean me, I sold Luis Suarez for 30 million. Marc Andre Ter Stegen for 20 million. Sebastien Corchia for 17.75 million. Theo Walcott for 19.25 million. Andre Schurrle for 20 million.

Also to follow up my post, after adding another big American club LA Galaxy it seems my merchandising might actually drop for the season :/

View attachment 346191

Approximately a month left, and need to get 3 million in merchandising to beat last seasons total...
 
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hi, i added portland as feeder club and there is a player who plays for sevilla and puerto rican national team. his other nationalities is usa. i wonder any increase on merchandising income if i sign this player. sorry for grammar waiting replies.
 
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