Create a Team Salary Cap
One of the causes of worry is money. What can be achieved purely with finanacial capabilities and no tactical acumen. I say create a soft limit on the effect of which money has on the game. You can still expand your arena to a million seats. You can still buy that 1M per week monster of a player. But you cannot exceed your Team Salary Cap. This way, money hoarders cannot buy themselves to the top of the pile. The most they can do is put themselves on even ground with the most competitive managers in the game, that's it. To beat them, you need skill. You need tactics. You need experience.
How do we determine the salary cap? Simple. Season Ticket Holders. Success brings success, and a successful team is more likely to draw the stars than a fifth division team losing every game. Use the Season Ticket Holders and multiply it with the max attendance multiplier you use to determine attendance in games together with max ticket prices. That's your salary cap. You still can live on a negative budget, but it won't be much which mirrors real life. Most teams will be gently pushed to keeping a positive budget, while the most insanely competitive of teams will be minorly in the negatives. Teams which succeed will be rewarded with a higher STH. As we know, STH doesn't fluctuate much so it will be a minor advantage at most. Lower ranked teams will have to make up the ground given by this advantage with tactical genius and not dollar signs.
Conmpetitiveness? Eventually, everyone equals out at the financial break even line instead of plunging into the negatives. To beat the other team, they will have to rely on their own tactical awareness. Which brings the game back to it's sporting roots and making economy less of a factor on the court. It also adds an additional tactical dimension to the game. Do I spend more of my salaries on the inside, or do I invest in Guards? Maybe I should balance them both up? Do I keep 5 insane starters or level things out with the subs? You decide what you work with, and what you do with it. You might see entire teams with their own special setups instead of the current player specialization.
This move will also promote the training and development of multiskilled players. With the team salary cap, managers will want the most bang for buck and that means maximum performance for their salary. Multiskill players which carry a lower salary than their counterparts are the answer.
Problems? I realize that teams that started prior to Season 3 might have an advantage in STH. A fix to that has been long outstanding, and this gives the BB's something to prioritize that fix so everyone is on even ground.
If this works out, money hoarding will no longer work. Instead, having a stable long term economy plan, buying the right players and playing the right tactics are the things necessary to win trophies. Tell me what you think.