1885-1888. Despite fewer players overall, enjoy all those massive IP $20-30M arms, or even an overabundance of $5-15M arms. For multiple options, treat each year as a separate 'franchise'. Not sure a cookie approach will work, but a finessed high wire act might be an interesting test. I only stumbled upon this for a down the road decade-to-decade theme I'm running and trying to project fair budgets based on salaries and price point comparisons.