So you earned 40k per home game due to winning of a championship. There is about 11 homegames in one season....that makes 440k, maximum.
Now if we compare what happened and scenario 3, there is 834k difference. So by winning a championship without HCA is not profitable, not even close!
More profitable is to win a cup and get into BBB that way.
I played 4 games in PO, and won the title.
QF - Home; SF - Away; F- Away; F - Home
Profit= $-241.347
Scenario 3:
If I had not qualified for PO:
Profit= $592.585
I personally think that this is not just a question of paying too high salaries, or HCA, or BBB, or fact that 5th place is the best one. Current situation is insane that losing a game gives you more money than winning a game (in a short and in a long run).