Ignoring the fun little cups vs competition that includes lesser divisions and limiting the discussion to PL vs CL, and for discussion purposes, accepting that "all in" for the PL means sacrificing some CL revenue.......
For me, the questions become: How much money are you willing to sacrifice to hoist the PL trophy and are you willing to jeopardize longer term team success because of less revenue taken in because CL ambitions were set aside?
Removing the emotional component of wanting to dispatch the MNC evil empire, crush every English rival, and claim British supremacy, myself, along with just about every owner of a PL team would choose Champions League triumph over PL victory.
Last season, Pochettino revealed the hidden truth that teams prioritize CL play and the obvious reason is enormous fees.
The bounty that comes from CL success is too substantial to discard and it ensures a financial resource advantage when it comes to competing vs most PL rivals.
Simple facts: The difference between bowing out in the group stage vs lifting the CL trophy was 45 mill last year and this is not factoring in other revenues available in the CL fee formula.
Is a PL trophy worth 45 mill sacrifice?
Most local fans would likely scream "hell yeah" but under their breath whisper "it's not my money so what do I care."
The bean counters on the other hand, even with their best efforts to monetize their PL winner, know full well the real cost of of abandoning CL ambitions for that elusive PL trophy.
Look at the narrowing financial gap between LFC and Man City over the past 2 years primarily because of LFC's deep CL runs and Man City's failures.
Understand, Barcelona's wild overspending for Coutinho set up LFC for the short and medium term but continued Champions League windfalls will be key in sustaining LFC's success, not PL trophies. Unless you want to keep selling stars and replenishing PL and CL rivals in order to fund LFC's roster, CL revenues are essential. Can LFC fans be happy their club's Raheem Sterling sale has fortified Man City over the past several years? Sorry.....it has... and LFC was a willing accomplice (along with Sterling)
More numbers:
The financial difference between finishing 1st or 2nd in the PL is 3 million
The financial difference between finishing 1st and 5th in the PL is 7.5 million
In other words....success in the PL does not reflect on the bottom line in a meaningful way
On the other hand....
Real Madrid, because of their long term success in CL, gets a check for 32 mill just for qualifying for CL because of their #1 coefficient ranking....a coefficient earned because RM is all in every year, never having to make hard decisions of which trophies to challenge for because of this substantial and recurring CL annuity that helps fund their deep, all star roster (until this year
)
Bottom line:
For the question posed, I choose CL money over a PL trophy with the long term goal of creating a team that accomplishes both.
LFC could very well be there right now....but that was not the question posed
And besides, Champion of Europe > Champion of England .....isn't it?
Guess it depends where you live