There are three positives here:
1) MKX had about 1/5th the number that SFV did last year, and this year IGAU2 will have about 1/3rd. That's a pretty significant gain, percentage-wise. Yeah, maybe raw numbers aren't great in a down year, but it means something to gain on the relative number of players.
Capcom has been supporting SF with pot bonuses in year round tournaments for a long, long time now. NRS just started doing that in the last couple of years. Seriously, on a relative basis, this looks like a good year for an NRS game, particularly given that Injustice isn't as popular as MK.
2) There's a good chance that the NRS community has scared off the tourists. Seriously, who thinks a Capcom guy is going to be able to dabble in IGAU2 on the side and make top 8 at EVO? I don't see it happening and I think the Capcom tourists know it. It might have been worth giving it a shot the first year IGAU1 came out, with the new back to block mechanic and the community still coming off of the first game it marshalled up large competitive play in: MK9. Well, years have gone by and it didn't happen in the 2nd year of EVO for IGAU1, didn't happen in MKX, probably not happening in IGAU2. Some of them tried at Combo Breaker and CEO and couldn't make top 8 at a major. With the interactibles, different character types, and even just each character having their own game where you need deep match-up knowledge, NRS games are harder to learn than many fighting games. So, while it would be nicer to see better numbers, it also means people playing other games are recognizing they might as well save their money since the NRS peeps aren't free.
3) Closing the gap sucks: I'm sure there are a lot of reasons SFV is down, which would drag all of EVO down, but hopefully their brilliant idea to make SFV more amateur-friendly is bombing out. It'd be worth a down year for all games in the FGC if game companies realize that we don't want that. I don't want a game where with a couple months of practice I have a shot at beating Sonic Fox because the mechanics make it easy for me. Sounds like a s--t game.