It is nice to sit in division IV with a pile of money and then race to the top later, but if 5 other teams in your div IV league have the same idea, and only one of them promotes every season from next season onwards, then these promotions could become quite costly compared to what is on offer for the teams that have already promoted...
could i add another variable that did not occur to me when i began:
i am going the team-with-all-Utopia-players route. i realized i would have to build this squad, but i never quite realized that if needed, say, a good PF (making $25,000), that such Utopians not only don't exist, but will not exist for another season or two, and will be so precious that they will be very unlikely to make the TL. the other disincentive is the lack of a Utopian national squad, which would spur the creation of a cadre of talented players.
that said, my merchandise sales has been so good that, combined with the TV contract, my attendance revenue (averaging over $90,000 a game) is pure profit. i just don't know how long my fans will be happy with a competitive DIV team.