NHL 22 Franchise Budget/Finance Issue/Requests

I completely get the frustration here. Fixing cosmetic issues like custom jerseys is fine, but when core franchise systems like budgets and finances are still broken, it makes the entire mode pointless to play. Those mechanics directly affect long-term progression, just like real-life financial planning. It’s similar to how people only look into options like an emergency home equity loan when the situation becomes unmanageable. If EA doesn’t address the underlying budget logic soon, patches feel more like surface-level fixes than real solutions.

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.

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. 

The coaches salaries seem to be random.  I have created 3 teams and 2 of them have 5,250 million but the 3rd started with 7,350 million for coaches salaries.  Why can't we pick our own coaches and scouts before the draft rather than having a mixed mess of staff that we have to fire and then hire from available staff during free agency? 

Check out the Seattle Kraken. Last time I checked it, their budget numbers and allowances were way low.

@EA_Blueberry  I think the best option to fix this problem is to get rid of the caps on all areas of the operation budget and allow us to freely move funds around where we need them most. We get x amount of dollars to allocate to areas of budget and place it where we want/need. I believe there is a trophy for signing a coach with an A rating. Coaches with A rating want 5+ million a year but the budget for the entire coaching staff is 5 250 million.  I would have to fire every coach NHL and AHL just to hire a single coach with A rating. I can't place enough funds in coach's salary to keep all the Coaches due to the cap limits.  

@EA_Blueberry  this I believe is different than the contract issue.  I ha e a franchise in 3rd season and the max budget for arena repairs is 2.850. By mid season I am no longer able to make repairs due to funds.  I have funds that could go there but the budget is maxed out. By start of next season all arena levels are below 50 so the cycle continues. 

Hey, @LeafsNation84 

I moved your post from the General Discussion to our Franchise board for better visibility around this. The Franchise team is more likely to focus on this board for specific requests. I went ahead and changed your post title. I get the frustration and completely acknowledge that, but as a tip for the future when it comes to collecting HOT threads on our forums it helps to post what the request is in the post title so it's more likely to stand out search results for others looking for a similar topic.

There is a popular thread on contracts. I am not sure if this falls in the same area as the finance/budget issue you're referring to. If you can provide more specific details and what you recommend the team to do it's a great starting point for a discussion around this.