#2 Losing record
I don't think a losing record necessarily constitutes a tanker. I think there are a string of things that need to happen. For example, if someone loses by 20+ 3-5 games in a row, and their bank balance is over a million, fans should decrease. If someone loses by 30+ 3-5 games in a row, and their bank balance is over 2 million, fans should
dramatically decrease.
Certain other things still need to change, however. A team can still go through, win all the games before home games, tv games and rival matches, lose all the rest and get good money from attendance.
Add that to the possibility of a team doing that, then buying up big just before the playoffs, and it makes things silly.