You are wrong
As always I have the same answer: "I agree, You are wrong" ;-)
No matter what I did and my prices were quite low, I couldn't get the fans I deserved.
Really? Please make first time 22-0 after relegation and 0-22 after other relegation. Do You think incomes from whole season will be the same? ;-) I don't think so. The same after promotion: please make 22-0 and 0-22. Incomes will be different as well. As I said earlier - system is prepered to reward better results. And 9-7 record is better than 0-16 and worse than 0-16. It's very simple.
Promotion/relagation bunus is only one of factor.
You can't expect maximal incomes with average record (number of loses almost the same as number of wins). There must be room to reward better teams. Instead of comparing attendance in two matches please try to compare incomes from whole season. Conclusions will be obvious - system works properly. Please imagine it's possible that promoted team win with number 1 and 2 in country. And it would be very unfair if he couldn't gain more incomes than team, who lost with number 1 and 2 in country.