Sorry to restart the discussion- but I was curious- how does this debate apply to me?
I'm a brand new team in DI of a small country (14 active teams). Our league is not strong- with only, I'd say 4 good teams (thats why I'm in 5th place out of 16th through only a half a season and acquisition of only two veterans).
In order to reach the earning potential of my 4 older league mates, I've been pumping as much as I can into my arena. Similarly, I've put the max prices on every seat, because, I figure a DI team with a DIV arena should be selling out. Once I've built enough, I can lower and play with the prices. Fortunately, I'm not subject to the tax floor, which in my league is 240k per week. I only pay about 60k in salaries (75% of that to my two vet acquisition and the rest to my 5 trainees and scrubs).
Is the advice to me as well: build as quick as I can to maximize the earning potential in DI and then use the extra money to start to build a competitive team? I know I can't catch the Big 4 in my league without some 100k salary players, and I'm probably seasons away from that. However, if I don't get my arena to a big enough size by the end of the season, I'll go bankrupt next season when the floor applies to me.
*I didn't choose to be in DI, I asked to be in a middle tier, but I got put in DII and bot promoted up immediately as I joined right before the season change, which was fortunate because I got that 1M promotion bonus. :)