Even though you make it through the preliminary round, only then you´ll have to face the "big teams".
Like i said, only after preliminary round you get parts of the deposit back, depending on how far a team succeeds. So let´s say for example, if you make it to the quarter finals you get 25,000 bucks back, but you won´t see any of the remaining 75,000€.
As far as full halls are concerned, the money you get from the crowd, is peanuts compared to what you have to pay while playing in CL, because you have to pay taxes on this gains and, as far as i know, also have to pay duties to the CEV.
I think there are talkings at the beginning of a season in which they tell players, that they are willing to play in CL, but also tell them of what a financial high-wire act it is for them to play there.
It is indeed like that. Dutch teams stopped playing CL already several years ago, because of the same - financial reasons.
For small countries (leagues) it is impossble to play CL, even when they are entitled to...I don't understand CEV for this reason...Why do they make it so difficult for certain countries/clubs?