For whatever reason, I remembered II.4 being around 400k. When I promoted my payroll was a bit over 500k, and I think I was only the 3rd highest in the league. Brian promoted with a payroll over 600k the season before I did.
Maybe that's skewing my memories up from what the rest of the league had. Or it was just two seasons way outside the norm.
You are right, there is just a big drop off after the contenders. Last season I lost in the finals with a 800K payroll, and Ambitious won with a 600K payroll....there was another team approaching 500K, one around 400K, and then it dropped off sharply after that. Seemed like the majority hovered in that 325K to 360K range....and then of course you have USA Elite and their 256K payroll.