I would go for a level 2 PR with a specialty. The extra salary you pay for a level 4 PR manager isn't going to give the same amount extra in merchandise.
You act like the only thing a PR manager does it help with merchandise, but in the game manual it says this:
"
Public Relations Managers help market the team to the fans, encouraging more people to show up to games and be willing to pay more for tickets."
While I agree with you that a level 4 PR manager is too high, that is clearly out of speculation. Do you have any evidence you can link me to that experiments with the PR manager and what not?
I have a level 3 guy right now and have had pretty steady income for the last couple games, but I'm not sure if I want to risk degrading to a level 2 to see the effects as it might be worse off for me and a link would really help :)