I spoke to someone from the Cavalry front office during the 2019 finals and they mentioned that on average, for each person through the gate, they were making $60 of gameday revenue, on top of ticket sales. Cavalry are doing just fine in covering the operating costs of hosting home games even with 1900 coming through the gate.
For other markets like Edmonton or York, I am sure they would love to do whatever they could to lower costs, given that no one is showing up on weeknights. But with those markets, no one is showing up on weekends either, so they have bigger problems than just covering costs on weeknight games.
Shortening the season means that all areas of revenue would be cut; broadcasting, sponsorships, and game day revenue. I'm sure the owners would love to hear how they can bring even less money into their pockets in this venture.
As for the players taking less money, you have to keep in mind that the majority of players in this league already need a second job just to pay the bills. I've spoken to a few players who are thinking of hanging it up at 25 just because the money isn't there to make a pro career a reality. The level of talent in this league is already low enough, I don't think you can get much lower and legitimately call yourself a professional league.
Simply put, the thought of shortening the season because crowds go down on weeknights in October (during a year where the season itself is ending a month later than it normally would) is nothing more than ill conceived.
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