When I turn up to watch amateur league soccer, my expectations are that I will see the blend of college players, alumni and former pros which has made the names of the NPSL and PDL as top of the (albeit someone illusory) pyramid.
The surroundings of mostly high school gridiron fields and exposed metal bleachers reinforce that impression. When one team is vastly better than the others (as Minneapolis City SC were in NPSL North this season), I expect it to have been because of a difference in hard work and choices/recruiting - not because the other team has out spent its rivals.