As a new user in a USA division V league I do not at all feel like the economy is making it difficult for me to compete. I would say that the important thing for new users to recognize is that you don't need to have a bunch of 100k+ players off the TL to compete in division V, especially considering there are a fair number of inactives/bots in most div 5 leagues. I joined right at the end of season 10, after the playoffs but before the draft, and here is what I was given to start with (pretty sure this is accurate, but this is all from memory):
1) 300k team balance for being a new user.
2) 50k bonus per week for being a new user, for the first 4 weeks.
3) A team of ~20 players, 10 of which I would consider decently good for a Div V team.
4) About 10-15 'scoutings' in the draft. Not really great, but in a fairly inactive league this plus some luck allowed me to get two players who are okay now and whom I feel good about training as well.
I would say BB gives new users enough talent on the roster to begin with to win a fair number of games and make the playoffs just by actively managing your team. Bargain hunting on the TL for players in the 1-50k range can pretty easily fill in the few small holes in the roster that remain.
The money I got to start, plus the extra 50k per week in the beginning was enough for me to upgrade my arena a bit, bargain hunt on the TL for some bigs, and hire the staff I wanted. A week from now, once I have sold/fired a couple players and made some adjustments to my ticket prices, I am expecting to make ~40k/week profit, despite spending 20k/week on scouting and 30k/week on staff. And my team is competitive now, and improving with training as the season goes on. As a new player it's hard to know for sure, but I feel like I will be in a good position at the end of this season to contend for my league title and to at least survive next season if I manage to get promoted to Div IV.
Take this with a gain of salt because this is coming from someone with a lifetime total of only 3 league wins (in the lowest division possible), but I would say a couple key things new users should look to do:
1) Pare down your roster. You can pretty easily get by with a 15 man roster and BB probably gave you ~10-15 decent players for your division when they created your team; fire the bums who aren't good now and are not in your future plans. Seven bad players drawing 2-3k/week each can add up to 20k per week of lost money. You need that money! Clear your roster of waste.
2) Bargain hunt the TL. As a super general rule with plenty of exceptions, "bargain hunt the TL in div5" probably equals= ~4k salary or better with 'respectable' skills in the spots you want. You can find a ton of these guys for less than a 50k bid (often more like 1-20k). Just do a TL search for bids under 50k, and browse through all the auctions about to expire until you find a deal. And, keep in mind you probably only need to fill a couple spots this way; you team was 'born' with a number of decent players to begin with.
3) Find a couple young players at similar positions (bigs, guards) to train. This can be through the draft or by bargain hunting the TL. Keep in mind you don't need MVP potential; 'starter' potential caps out around 20k? That is more than enough to see you through division IV and V. This is a cheap way to keep your team improving as the season progresses: the 'decent' trainee that started the season can end up being a 'great' player (by div 5 standards) by the end of the season if you keep up with the training. A level 4 trainer is not unaffordable.
4) Maximize your revenue. Right now, before you have any trainees to sell for a profit, this probably means firing bad/extra players and expanding your arena. A reasonably cheap expansion of luxury boxes/courtside seats/lower lever can add 20k/home game in revenue, and if you're winning you can probably feel confident they won't go empty, even in division V.