I don't think the crowds are bad at all, they are definitely favourable compared to the Lions and not far off the Hurricanes (who play in the top competition in the world, in the national sport and play less than half the games that the Phoenix play at home) and also compared to other leagues like the SPL and Serie A.
The business plan has to work at just under 10k in bad seasons and over 10k in good seasons, with a period of bad - neutral seasons in rebuilding phases between title tilts. But the TV audience and membership numbers definitely have to go up, which is where the traveling circus comes in.