That article is why the sport is dying.
Everyone wants bike racing to be a funnel for Americans to get into the pro ranks and race schedules are designed around that (dropping more entry level 5's and 4's races) and that really only caters to a small amount of people. Sports don't grow when the sole motive is to build youth talent, that's an end result or a sport with a solid base. To achieve this they've alienated a large group of their base (i.e. any racer who doesn't have Cat 2 or better potential).
Cyclocross is killing it in participation because they have races were everyone can actually compete. They have age group A,B, and C races. I could race 45 C's (which will have a large field of 30+) and probably have a fair shot to win. In SCNCA Road they've largely eliminated Masters entry level races, which is a big reason we've dropped from
#1 to something like 5th? in participation. To an extent road is handcuffed because they can only do so many races, but they keep making the races more geared towards the higher Category racers and the lower category races offered keeps shrinking. Coincidentally that means you have to be faster to get out of the lower cats, because there's less garbage races. Every 4's race has Cat 1 talent in it, so many riders just hang it after a few races. Racers, no matter how terrible they are at racing, want to enter races they have a chance to win.
A big issue is the voice of the sport are Cat 1's, pro's, etc. The promoters listen to them and USAC to create their schedules. Outside of Junior Development, anything under 123's is an afterthought.