Stadium upgrades: cost vs incomes

Hi all,

After analyzing the return on investment of stadium upgrades, I’ve realized that — as things currently stand — they’re almost never worth it, especially for lower-tier teams. Here’s the breakdown:

• Cost: 5 platinum

• Capacity increase: +5,000 spectators

• Revenue increase per match: 15 local coins

• Home matches per season: 15

➡️ Total income per season:
15 local coins × 15 matches = 225 local coins = 3.75 gold
(assuming 1 gold ≈ 60 local coins)

➡️ Break-even time:
5 platinum / 3.75 gold = ~49 seasons
⚠️ That’s nearly 4 years in real time.

(I believe these calculations are correct — please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!)

I understand that this game is meant to be a long-term project and that patience is part of the challenge. But in this case, I think the return is way too low to justify the investment.

I suggest to increase the revenue per spectator o to reduce the cost of upgrades. Also, it may add some bonus revenue sources, like merchandising, sponsorships,...

Would love to hear others’ thoughts on this!

Thanks for reading.

But you're playing the stadium to earn money or to gain additional income for the company. You must understand that every single coin in this game is produced by the users themselves; the game doesn't produce money. Kob is a management game; don't intend to invest just to earn money; that will be very difficult. Invest for the fun of being a manager.

4 years is too long? That's 25% per year, and becomes even more if one plays international competitions.

That revenue come from users' money, it has to remain sustainable, can't be increased. Otherwise, it would become similar to a Ponzi scheme

You are not used to investing right? You have to understand it as a almost daily dividend, and a performance of +25% is a lot. Finance investings usually pay around 3% to 7% in dividends, so 25% is a lot. Also, you forgot tu add the taxes, so it's more than 4 years

@Stoneisland @maridiba @buscandoguias Sincere thanks for your answers!

I’m definitely not here to make money, I play because I really enjoy the game. And I fully get that the economy needs to be sustainable. My point is just that the stadium ROI feels very disconnected from the pace of other investments in KoB.

Yes, I know a 20-25% annual return is huge in real-world investing - but let's not forget the game is just over a year old. I can't imagine how KoB will look in 2029-2030.

Just sharing a thought — thanks for considering it!

I agree with @jaimep96, that this isn't a much attractive to invest.
Despite being just a one time investment, it takes a lot of time to have some return with it.
That's why I haven't invested.

But now I went to see how it is with the 8 first teams of my league, Spain, Romania and Italy, and realize that pretty much everyone invested. That may be because they just didn't do the math, or did and thought that it can be profitable.

Given that, I'm still in favor of changing this, so that instead of taking 4+ years to have some return, one can get it in less time, for example, in 2 or 3 years. I'm more in favor of doing it with less investment, with the expectation that more players invest, but it could be a mix of lower cost (30-50% less) and a bit of more return (as something in the 5 to 15% range above current).

I suggested time ago to let us decide the price of the tickets (and this Will influence the numbers of spectators depending the kind of match too), but still nothing..

I have a bold idea that the stadium could be rented out to another team for a specific period of time (e.g. 1 season). Of course it must be the same country.

Its shorter than 4 years. You forgot cup and CL/CC

to give a change and innovation to the game

@jaimep96 This idea is interesting

bigs_nuno

I agree with @jaimep96, that this isn't a much attractive to invest.
Despite being just a one time investment, it takes a lot of time to have some return with it.
That's why I haven't invested.

But now I went to see how it is with the 8 first teams of my league, Spain, Romania and Italy, and realize that pretty much everyone invested. That may be because they just didn't do the math, or did and thought that it can be profitable.

Given that, I'm still in favor of changing this, so that instead of taking 4+ years to have some return, one can get it in less time, for example, in 2 or 3 years. I'm more in favor of doing it with less investment, with the expectation that more players invest, but it could be a mix of lower cost (30-50% less) and a bit of more return (as something in the 5 to 15% range above current).

@bigs_nuno I bought the seats because the percentage return is good, even if the amount at stake is very little, and it's a guaranteed income with no subsequent risks. It's not that different from the shares, just with a limited amount.

There was a similar game years ago, in which the stadium used to cost about 10 times more, and the percentage return was similar, still guaranteed, but more dependent on the team's results. That approach initially brings lots of money to the funds, but in the long run becomes a burden for the economy, and the other users end up indirectly paying (through prizes decrease) for the tickets of the bigger stadiums for which the initial investment has already been recovered. I understand why @nicmo is keeping the cost and revenue of the stadium very low; it prevents economic burdens in the long run.

Unlike the seats, the features that move the most money in KOB – players and competition prizes – don't offer any guaranteed returns at all. Instead, their performance depends entirely on the manager's strategic choices, making the economy much more stable and sustainable in the long run

Calculations are wrong.

Max capacity depends also of popularity. You also have to pay taxes. 6 years in return (if ever) or more is the final answer

lysybandyta

Calculations are wrong.

Max capacity depends also of popularity. You also have to pay taxes. 6 years in return (if ever) or more is the final answer

@lysybandyta Yes, you’re right. My example was based on the maximum guaranteed capacity, which isn’t always the case. And I forgot the taxes, yes. That actually strengthens my argument: I still think it’s too much. I’m not just suggesting an increase the revenues for the sake of it, but maybe we could think about ways to make these investments riskier, but also more profitable (if done well), like other types of investments. For example, upgrading the training ground costs a lot (10 platinum is a lot for a small team like mine, haha), but it can also bring huge benefits by allowing you to train and improve your players.

jaimep96

Hi all,

After analyzing the return on investment of stadium upgrades, I’ve realized that — as things currently stand — they’re almost never worth it, especially for lower-tier teams. Here’s the breakdown:

• Cost: 5 platinum

• Capacity increase: +5,000 spectators

• Revenue increase per match: 15 local coins

• Home matches per season: 15

➡️ Total income per season:
15 local coins × 15 matches = 225 local coins = 3.75 gold
(assuming 1 gold ≈ 60 local coins)

➡️ Break-even time:
5 platinum / 3.75 gold = ~49 seasons
⚠️ That’s nearly 4 years in real time.

(I believe these calculations are correct — please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!)

@jaimep96

I come up with the following calculation:
The game offers you a stadium with 5000 seats.
Let's invest 5 platinum for another level.
Following the calculations only for the championship matches
we get 3.75x2=7.5 gold (we also added the income for the initial 5000 seats) in a season.In approximately 10 seasons, 2 platinums are obtained.
Dividing platinum by gold is a mistake.
The conclusion is that investments must be studied carefully.

savas52

jaimep96

Hi all,

After analyzing the return on investment of stadium upgrades, I’ve realized that — as things currently stand — they’re almost never worth it, especially for lower-tier teams. Here’s the breakdown:

• Cost: 5 platinum

• Capacity increase: +5,000 spectators

• Revenue increase per match: 15 local coins

• Home matches per season: 15

➡️ Total income per season:
15 local coins × 15 matches = 225 local coins = 3.75 gold
(assuming 1 gold ≈ 60 local coins)

➡️ Break-even time:
5 platinum / 3.75 gold = ~49 seasons
⚠️ That’s nearly 4 years in real time.

(I believe these calculations are correct — please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!)

@jaimep96

I come up with the following calculation:
The game offers you a stadium with 5000 seats.
Let's invest 5 platinum for another level.
Following the calculations only for the championship matches
we get 3.75x2=7.5 gold (we also added the income for the initial 5000 seats) in a season.In approximately 10 seasons, 2 platinums are obtained.
Dividing platinum by gold is a mistake.
The conclusion is that investments must be studied carefully.

@savas52 Adding the initial 5000 seats is a mistake, because we are calculating the return of the investment. Therefore, in 10 seasons, you obtain 1 platinum (not even counting taxes, by the way), so you need 50 seasons.

I think the only possible alternatives are;

1. Give some extra bonus for having a bigger stadium, if someone can find one that makes sense.

2. Increase ticket prices which in turn will reduce the funds prize since money is not magic on KOB.

@Nicmo

the suggestion give Some extra bonus if stadium is maxed out is excellent.

at this moment having more than 50k stadium is useless.

i and Some other investors have 80k stadium

jaimep96

@savas52 Adding the initial 5000 seats is a mistake, because we are calculating the return of the investment. Therefore, in 10 seasons, you obtain 1 platinum (not even counting taxes, by the way), so you need 50 seasons.

@jaimep96 When you make the investment, the stadium has 5,000 seats.

nicmo

I think the only possible alternatives are;

1. Give some extra bonus for having a bigger stadium, if someone can find one that makes sense.

2. Increase ticket prices which in turn will reduce the funds prize since money is not magic on KOB.

@nicmo are you sure?

Prizes are already low compared to how much it costs to build a competitive team. Is it a good idea to encourage speculation over competition by reducing the prizes to raise ticket sales? I don't think so...

Maybe making bonuses depend on stadium size can be a more feasible solution. For example, home advantage could be up to 5% depending on stadium level, which would make the stadium level more important without being a burden for the economy.

If increasing the revenue is really important, it could be done more sustainably, but it requires a few updates to make it more dependent on club performance, in my opinion:
- increase both revenues and maintenance costs so that things are balanced. This way, if someone buys an adequate number of seats and they are almost always full, he earns much more than he does now, but if the stadium has too many seats compared to the attendance, the maintenance costs eat all the profit
- the popularity calculation should be revised: now, if you play a good season and reach 100 popularity, and then the performance drops dramatically, you can still keep 100 popularity just by having an equal number of wins and losses. That's not a problem now because the stadium income is not that important, but it can be easily exploited if stadium income becomes important. I have a few ideas to fix that and make it fairer

Anyway, I would rather keep the stadium costs and income negligible, as it is now

Very interesting conversation..

nicmo

I think the only possible alternatives are;

1. Give some extra bonus for having a bigger stadium, if someone can find one that makes sense.

2. Increase ticket prices which in turn will reduce the funds prize since money is not magic on KOB.

@nicmo why you don't give a option to play in changing price of the tickets (a manager can decide the price depending the match and this will influence the number of spectators and the final income with a pinch of extra randomness). It can be fun