You are absolutely correct, for logical intelligent people! But…there is a man in every dance team. Ma & Pa Kettle want to see only the purty ballerini showing her purty face and legs. Even the amazingly charismatic multi-time champ Scott Hamilton lost his job at Ice Capades…why he had to create SOI.
I think that’s less true now, especially since marketing to Ma & Pa Kettle is a big part of what NBC/USFS is doing wrong. People have no problem being fans of the male pros on Dancing With the Stars. I don’t think skating needs to lean any harder into heteronormativity, but an attractive couple with some kind of long-term partnership (whether it’s romantic, off-ice exes, deep platonic or sibling bond, however you can spin it) should be even easier to sell.
It just kills me that any sentient adults could literally have Madison Hubbell and Madison Chock standing right in front of them and still be going, “Hmm, how on earth can we get more people to pay attention to figure skating.”