I still think that you are misidentifying the problem, that the idea of "shortage of players" is shortsighted.
While I think it's important that everyone's opinion is heard, statements like yours make me sick. I've been here much longer and have observed many a thing over the years and I don't think you are equipped with the experience to accurately make that statement. For example, you don't know what the state of BuzzerBeater was before the creation of Utopia so you aren't able to draw on observations from that.
Even back in the day when I started, there were old managers with old money from a much different economy and they all had monster arenas. Building your arena up was just part of the journey as a new manager because other users playing the game longer had a head start on you. The big difference back then was that I was still able to acquire players and improve my team to close the competitive gap. Today this is not possible because the supply of players is so low, that only established players with more money and resources are able to obtain said players.
There will always be a competitive gap between new mangers and veterans. Users that have played longer should be farther ahead competitively speaking. However, in today's economy and player market, this gap is much bigger and exacerbated by the fact that we don't have enough skilled players to go around. Therefore, the problem you describe is a symptom of the "shortage of players" Lemonshine has described. Address the player shortage and the competitive gap will lessen between new mangers and veteran managers.