Here is my idea for arena operations, not everyone will agree but I think it would add to the game.
As GM you negotiate with the mayor for arena perks and shared costs of repairs.
The owner gives you a budget for operations and you place it where needed without max caps.
When profits are high you get budget increases, when they are bad you get decreases.
Building relationships with coaches and players to keep contract demands lower.
Bonuses and advertising incentives for goals reached in a season for players and coaches. These could help retain staff and players. Example would be player contract offer of 5 million a year with 500k in Bonuses for reaching goals and 350k in sponsorships to give the player a total of 5.850 million possible for season.
Option to rebuild a stadium negotiated with the mayor vs relocation of team.
Negotiate with mayor and advertisers to reduce costs of arena upgrades. Their input would tie into the teams ratings and success. Examples would be make the playoffs they cover 20% of upgrades, win the cup they cover 40% of upgrades.
Those are some of my thoughts for budgets and contracts.
I'll be honest, Franchise Owner Mode's been broken since 2018. Despite havein a budge of 180 million, with only 81 million going toward the players, I can never actually fix or improve my building. No matter how much I change my budget, and no matter how I balance my prices, I can't meet fan demand (which may actually be truthful to real life) but it makes it impossible to meet owner goals of "exceed x dollars in profilt" or "sell out x number of games." There is literally no way to disperse the funds well enough to do that. Basically, I 've had to turn this feature off for years.
Moving on to the Coaching and Scouting budgets - Why is my budget capped at 10 million (the highest I've ever seen it while playing with owner mode on for the past six years) when my NHL Head Coach all of a sudden wants 5 to 7 million? Also, why do some coaches sit content for 4 to 7 years before they want better jobs, but others want them after their first contact. I'll give you an example.
Joe Thornton became an NHL assistant coach in 2023. I hired him at a C- overall. After 3 years, his contract expired. He was a C rating and all of a sudden only wanted to by an NHL Head Coach. My play was to groom him from assistant coach for 3 years to associate coach for 4 years, and when he hit an over all of B+ give him the head coach job, but there was no logic to it. He was the ONLY NHL Head Coach with a rating before B+ for the next 12 years of Franchise Mode, and since no team hired him, he never got any better. It seems a waste for such a great player.
