Maybe not a definitive ultimate solution, but to pretend like it hasn't worked in the past is straight up wrong. I mean, a few months back, ZE events were happening literally once a week and things were looking more than up. Even when events weren't happening, ZE still got 30-50 players on during discord @ seeding requests. As soon as a month went by with no events, ZE slowly faded and seeding jumpstarts stopped working. If it was a sudden and sharp drop, I'd agree with you, but the slow fade from that mini resurgence tells me a different story.
I also feel like this goes without saying, but the idea that ZE/TTT/MG should be shut down is absurd and it's annoying that it's even brought up anymore. It's clear as day that the game modes themselves aren't dead because other community's versions are doing fine.