a couple of things:
1) in my experience, the competition to get out a lower division is terrific and fierce. you say you are confident you could do it, but drop back to any DII league and i would guess there are easily four teams in any league who plan on winning.
2) the attendance hit is another blow. winniing back fans is a process and takes a good bit of time.
3) you have the core of a good team, with several 27 year olds, and Eckert, who is very good. but i don't know if you have looked at the TL recently -- players are quite expensive, especially young ones. players with a future cost well over $2 million.
4) you do have plenty of room for good players to make you competitive this season. but they will all be over 30.
5) i'm not sure the Big 8 teams you may face in relegation (to make up 3 games and move past two other teams at this stage in the season is a tall order) have any doubts about wanting to stay at this level.
i should point out that merely making this level is tough, but a couple of the recent DII advancees (is that a word?) have been spectacular: Tucumcari has been in the finals every year since he advanced, Golden Horde are leading their conference and may end up with HCA for the playoffs, Delta i believe has been in the playoffs every season since he got up here, the Cacti the same --
but if you decide you want to stay and don't, then you miss the revenue and probably have older players you have to jettison for DII. good luck.