I still see it as the natural plateau of the base support in that area. How many people live in and around Inverness that would actually want to go and watch a football team? Google suggests there's about 70,000. Shiny new team - 6,000 odd enthusiastic people that come, try it out and ultimately don't stick around. Second division, 2,000 still go that'll be there whether it's rain, hail or shine because it's what they do. Average that over a 20 year period and it looks like they're capable of attracting around 4,000 if there's top flight football on offer. For my argument, if you were to take that base number (core 2,000 diehards, 2,000 floaters and 2,000 that dip in and out) and you were to add in any kind of sustained success that might come from a better concentration of resources, the better players from the area being forced to compete for fewer places I'm confident attendance figures would also rise over time. Right now the costs of running ICT and Ross County includes the upkeep of two stadiums, two training facilities (presumably) and twice as much/travel/accommodation as well as staff. One combined regionalized team still has the same number of people who probably want to go watch football but offers youngsters and the clubs a greater set of resources to try and challenge for more success. How much you spend and your success are directly connected in most cases. It has of course always been hypothetical. The argument is that fans turned their backs on the older teams. Unless the older teams were averaging around 3,000 each (which they weren't) then it isn't a relevant one to be making.