Emo:
1st of all, the Royals currently are spending ABOVE what their market would dictate. Our payroll is around 19th in the MLB, and we're probably a bottom 4 market honestly. Our TV deal is garbage, so teams like the Dodgers get about 10 times what we do from local TV/Radio. The BEST hope for the team to be competitive long term IMO is a new downtown stadium, its the only hope for increased revenue and spending. If we want that, we need big time fan support.
The problem with the Royals the last 6 years or so isn't that the owners aren't committed financially, its that we don't make smart decisions. Decisions are made with heart over head ALL THE TIME here in KC. Clubhouse values are put above OPS (melky goes, Frenchy Stays). I don't think that the owners would suddenly sell if there was less fan support, in fact, its more likely they sell with a good fan base, maximizing their sale. If the fans quit watching/going, the owners would just tighten up their fannies and we'd be back to 2005 all over. I know everyone goes back to it all the time, but the Rays and A's are examples of what the Royals COULD be. They have lower payrolls than us and compete consistently for divisions. The Rays have gone up with the Red Sox/Yankees since 2008, and the A's have rebuilt multiple times in the last 15 years.
The problem isn't the fans, its the player decisions made by the GM first and foremost.
This article by Posnanski explains really well the difference between the A's and the Royals. The Royals have a better park, fans, and spend more, yet we get our butts kicked, because DM values the wrong things.
http://www.nbcsports.com/baseball/mlb/oakland-wayThe Royals fans are not the problem, even a tiny bit.