And you do, it's just not directly visible as you accrued the profit over the season and the next one.
Maybe not in every case because 4th vs 5th the difference is very small sometimes. In my case I lost on purpose the last two games (only one at home). So I do not think that I lost a lot on this last home game. Even if I lost 50 000 (which is a lot) on this game, I play two playdowns games instead of one playoff game so at least 100 000 more for me. Overall I won 50 000 more by losing so in this case, I think losing is better than winning (and I am pretty sure my number is too low).
About the risks of play-downs I am pretty sure the tie-breaker goes for the 5th seed over the 7th seed.
What would be a fair prize money ? If the goal is to compensate that potentially missed half revenue PO game, in D2 for example, that would be something like $150.000. Do you give a prize money for reaching PO, so the same for #1 and #4 team, or do you give even more than $150k to #1 #2 #3 as they were better ranked and deserved higher prize money ? Which will be a lot of money.
Ok maybe there is no good solution but let me reverse the question.
Is it normal that a team with a better record win less profit due to less game played ?