If the competitiors are too strong for new teams, one of the main issues is the size of the league. New users join, lose a few games by a huuuuuge margin, are discouraged (because they can't buy players) and have to spend like 2 real years to catch up.
I think bigger nations lost less users (relatively) because the gap between the worst established teams and newbies is smaller. If you join in Austria you can expect to get beat by teams like mine, by 50-60 points for a few seasons. You could advertise as much as you want, as long as this leak isnt plugged we wont see a significant trend upwards.
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