If you're teaching a high school or college course in business, finance, marketing, sports management, or sports finance, Sports Business Simulations, still the best provider of ready-to-use business simulations of sports organizations specifically for use in the classroom, has the Oakland Baseball Simworld and the XFL Simworld.
Both simulations were created by Zennie Abraham, the Chairman and CEO of Sports Business Simulations and the Executive Producer and CEO of Zennie62Media.com. The sims were designed to match real world situations in sports organizations.
Regarding the XFL, the SBS website explains:
After Mr. Abraham finished his stint heading the effort to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland, CA., he became interested in building a system dynamics model of the worldwide business operation that is the National Football League. The idea of the simulation is that the NFL can evaluate business strategies before they're put into actual practice. Moreover, because the simulation would be online, it would permit distance conferencing between NFL executives and business partners.
In 2001, Mr. Abraham met Michael Bean and Will Glass-Hussain of Forio Business Simulations. Mr. Bean and Mr. Glass-Hussain invited him to learn and use Forio's system dynamics-based language called "Forio Macro Language" or FML. So, learning three programing languages at once -- HTML, FML, and JavaScript -- Abraham built what is now called the XFL Simworld.
The inspiration for the XFL Simworld was People Express, an airline which lasted one year and was the basis for a popular business school case study. The XFL's similar business fate was the perfect foundation for an online simulation for the business classroom.
The Oakland Baseball Simworld is far more complex than the XFL Simworld, and is the best classroom simulation of its kind ever developed. Again, the SBS website explains:
The Oakland Baseball Simworld was originally created as a tool to evaluate how new stadium proposals would impact the business of running the Oakland Athletics Bsseball Organization. The equation base was developed when SBS CEO Zennie Abraham , its creator, was Economic Advisor to Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris in 1998.
That year, the Mayor asked Mr. Abraham to find potential buyers for the A's franchise. At the request of one of the potential owners, Mr. Abraham created a five-year system dynamics model of the Athletics organization. That simulation, far beyond a spreadsheet, became the basis for the Oakland Baseball Simworld.
The Oakland Baseball Simworld that you're about to use came to life after Mr. Abraham established a relationship with Forio Business Simulations, represented by Michael Bean and Will Glass-Hussain. As both Mr. Abraham and the Forio Business Simulations principals know, System Dynamics, and live in the San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area, they created a strategic alliance. When Mr. Abraham met University of San Francisco Professor Dan Rascher in June of 2002, he also expressed an interest in Abraham's simulation work. When Abraham and Rascher met again after the Oakland Baseball Simworld was finished, they established Sports Business Simulations.
Oakland Baseball Simworld Objectives
The simulation has over 100 decisions that impact the baseball organization. What you're trying to do is "grow" the business of the baseball firm over a period from 2006 to 2021. (SBS changes this each year to maintain a current base of team information and a 15-year play period into the future). Your objective is to achieve constant increases in franchise value, keep the team "in the black" where annual revenues are greater than annual expenses, and maintain a competitive team on the field, winning playoff and World Series games - if you get that far.
You must do this within the overall economic structure currently presented by Major League Baseball. The recently passed Collective Bargaining Agreement is represented here. But you can try different CBA agreements, too. All of the observed macro fiscal patterns common to the A's organization are replicated here. Thus, this platform is perfect for evaluating different new stadium financing options and baseball economic strategies, from high-payroll teams to low-payroll teams and other considerations.
Both simulations are available for use online right now. Just visit SBS here. You don't have to download anything and if you contact us and are a classroom teacher, the simulation account is free.
The "sims" are self-contained and even have a provision for evaluating student performance. All of this for the low price of just $20 per student, per class.
For more information, contact SBS at info@sportsbusinesssims.com.
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