I am level 16 and make over $15M per home game with merchandise and daily sponsorship and prize. seat price is currently $47 and going up. I lose $3M on days when I have an away game though. that is approx $155M profit for the season. and yes, I have a fully built stadium, and that took me many, many friendlies to help build. Not to brag, but I have one(1) 7*, ten(10) 6*, and the rest are 5* players and I have almost $500M in the bank. I till take at least $300M to replace the three 26YO I have, for younger players, but now money means nothing to me since I will max out in a few more seasons.
My point is that you have to play a ton of friendlies and tank every other season and you can have the same team and stadium that token buyers have.