If apathetic Aucklanders and the football cliques up there wound in their collective egos, I could see a viable Auckland team dragging in 9-10k per game after the fun factor was over. But it would require a lot of hard and ongoing work.
However, people would really need to wind their politics in. Auckland City & Eastern Suburbs could be the basis.
I would give Auckland another chance to show if they can produce it. Plenty of rich businesses up there to offer sponsorship deals etc.