Moving up in ranks has been close to impossible for years
Then again, this game was modelled after HT. In HT the differences in economy between top and lower leagues is nowhere near the differences we have here and you do see D2 teams as good or better than D1 teams. The promotion/demotion system should be modelled after Utopia if that's deemed to be a success, but perhaps the income differences between league levels should also be reduced so that it's easier for newly promoted teams to fight for survival after they promote.
In the long run we have to consider merging countries or remodeling the whole league structure thing. Austria was a nice country when we still had around 80-100 Teams. Now we are approaching less than 50 teams and its becoming pretty boring.
But then again with the raising Prices top Teams are even less under risk to get demoted. $1 mil won't buy you the Player that will win you enough games to compete for 5th place. Back in the day you could buy a top C and two bench Players for that amount.
Größter Knecht aller Zeiten aka His Excellency aka President for Life aka Field Marshal Al Hadji aka Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas aka aka Conqueror of the Buzzerbeater Empire in Europe in General and Austria in Particular