Good post Austin. I agree with much of what you say. In particular, people threatening to stay away from games is totally counter-productive and only increases the likelihood that this will end badly.
At the same time I think Welnix are being incredibly naive at the moment and have actually shown themselves to be a little out of their depth. I am tired of being brow-beaten by our "owners" about the need to "break-even" and have a "sustainable business model". And before anybody jumps in with "it's their money so they get to do what they want", consider this - that's not actually true.
The bulk of the funding for any A-League team actually comes from us, the fans, directly through ticket sales and pay tv subscriptions, and indirectly through sponsors' willingness to pay to market to us. That will never change. The "owners" of franchises simply provide top-up funding. If a franchise is at break-even they aren't actually providing any funding at all. I don't think a traditional profit/loss break-even model applies to a football club very well, and it fails to give appropriate weight to the very important, and distinct, roles that the various stakeholders play - especially the fans.
I think that this whole discussion would benefit if we borrowed the conceptual framework from something likeSocial Accounting or Triple Bottom Line Reporting . These concepts argue that an organisation's responsibility is to stakeholders, not just shareholders. An organisation should be used as a vehicle for coordinating stakeholder interests, not just maximising shareholder profits. If Welnix were looking at what they are doing in these terms I think it could lead to a much more constructive relationship between them and the fans. A relationship where both parties are recognised by the other as being true partners, instead of them simply treating the fans as customers, a concept they are obviously much more familiar with. This is also the kind of thinking that underpins the various 'supporters trust' movements around the world.