If it is any consolation, in American professional sports, it is VERY ROUTINE for a team manager to FREQUENTLY withdraw their top players from matches in team sports (like basketball for example) near the end of the season if that team will make the playoffs, presumably to preserve the health and play status of those top players.
On one level, that is good management of the manager - a team cannot win without top performances from their top players.
On another level, like brodlio points out, fans might have purchased tickes many months in advance, with the expectation that the top players would be available to play. Fans do not often purchase expensive tickets and make expensive travel to watch only the backup players play.
Sport at the pro level is both a skill and entertainment business. If there is no entertainment, there will be no business. If their is no skill and achievement, there will be no fanss or viewership or business.
That is also a factor that any prudent management should be aware of, evaluate, and decide what is best, whatever the priorities that are driving the business.
Once fans stop buying tickets, stop buying merchandise, and TV networks stop buying broadcast rights, these businesses will be more responsive to fans.
I think the biggest example of this "market equilibrium" is world football. The top pro teams already play too many matches and as the top teams go deeper and deeper in more comps and go deeper into their domestic leagues (and the top players also play international matches) there is a LOT of wear on the top athletes and they rarely can play all the matches. When managers withdraw their top players too much, both ratings and team performance drops.
The football world exemplifies the most balanced approach to the fan vs business aspect as the fans contribute a lot to the business and ultimately, listen to the fans interests a little more than the players... yet if a team never listens to a player, the top player will sign a contract somewhere else, so the team must balance this as well. If a team cannot attract and retain top players, it has no future, so a top player has a lot of leverage too. Ultimately, it is collectively the ones who pay - fans and networks - who determine how the outfit goes.
This is why a turly competitive open market system brings about balance all on its own without outside government interference.