@ CarlosT: I may be in the top level now, but this is my first season there, so I do know what it feels like to be stuck in a lower league for multiple seasons. That link you gave is interesting, but this one has gotten almost as many views and many more replies than it in only a few days. I think it went pretty unnoticed and unquestioned. Also, no standard threshold is given for the size of league or number of users that would result in lowered prizes, or how much these would be lowered, though I asked these questions there in hopes that admin will answer.
My main motivation here is less "realism" than it is to limit the ability of new players getting a relatively easy path to the big prize money. Notice I wrote
relatively easy. While it may not be "easy" to promote oneself from the 3rd or 4th level (such as for our nations) to the top in less than 5 seasons, it is impossible to do in some leagues. For sake of argument, let's say that it takes 3 seasons, on average, for an active (and shrewd) manager to move up 2 levels. In Argentina (4 levels), it would take 4-5 seasons to make it to the top after starting at the bottom. In Thailand (7 levels), this would take at least 9 seasons. Thus, after 4-5 seasons, the Argentine manager would be competing for 1 million G while the Thai manager would only be competing for 250,000 G. How is this fair?
IMHO, all new players:
1) should have to start at the lowest level of their league.
2) should be competing for the same prize in their first season. If they move up one level, then again they should be competing for the same prize as another player that has moved up one level in a different league, regardless of its size.
I totally agree that the prize money shouldn't be lowered for any leagues with at least 3 levels with active users. Instead of the prize table I posted in my first post, I'd really like to see one that looks more like this: (note these are prizes for winners of top level in league with X levels)
# levels example league top prize cup prize min guaranteed attendance1 COK 350,000 G 525,000 G 7K
2 ALG 550,000 G 825,000 G 10K
3 GER 1,000,000 G 1,500,000 G 15K
4 ARG 1,550,000 G 2,325,000 G 22K
5 ENG 2,000,000 G 3,000,000 G 31K
6 ? 2,250,000 G 3,375,000 G 38K
7+ THA 2,450,000 G 3,650,000 G 43K
With this table, almost no one would be competing for less money than they are now. However, top teams in top levels of smaller leagues might complain that they can't play for still bigger prizes. That's why I suggested that geographically adjacent leagues should be merged, wherever possible, to ensure that most, if not all, leagues have
at least 5 levels in them. In your case, Argentina could be merged with Chile, Paraguay and/or Uruguay to make 5 or 6 levels with active users in them. For me in the USA it would be harder - it would probably take all of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean just to make a league with at least 5 levels.
