I get that AEW's change in attendance profile may have something do with the ticket buyrate decreasing, but at the same time shouldn't the company try to appeal to other audiences other than the hardcores?
I mean, it's possible they have thought that the diehard fans who were sick of the WWE modus operandi and booking philosophy, who instead were more keen on keeping up with the Elite, NJPW, CMLL etc, wouldn't make for a strong, sustainable crowd - at least not one to the level they wanted. They maybe thought that having, say, 5k hardcore fans (great number tbh) wouldn't be better than 8k fans who were more on the casual side.