My League has two Divisions of 8 Teams, so 16 Total Teams. I'm V League so no one can be demoted.
With 16 Teams lets say the 12 go to the Play Offs, the Top 6 in each Conference.
1 V 6, 2 V 5, 3 V 4.
1 V6 W Gets Bye. (Let's assume highest Seed wins to make this look easy).
So Bye, 2 V 3.
1 V 2
Division Championship
Everyone Played a Game on Play Off Day 1, so everyone pays Salaries. Question is, how to help the 1 V 6 Winner to keep income during the Bye.
Now the rest is Easy.
7 V 8.
Division (7 V 7) and Division (8 V 8).
So now you have One Team Eliminated (the Losing 8.) The other 8 faces the 1 Loss 7 (who ever lost the Division Match Up) to Eliminate a 2nd Team. Since we assume High Seed Wins, that means now the other 8 is out. Now we have
Division 7 V 7 (one Undefeated, one 1 Loss).
Again, everyone plays Play Off Day 1, so everyone pays Weekly Salaries. No one gets a free pass. Just ensure that an Even Number of Teams in each Conference are in Play Off, and another Even in Relegation (for Conference).