I'm not sure if the devs can do this, let alone even consider it. However, I was wondering the other day about how very few people, if any, still partake in things such as Ballista/Brenner, Chocobo raising and racing, Pankration, and Monstrosity. I feel like these are things that were either popular when they were first introduced and then died out or just never caught the player's attention. Most of the reason is due to there being no incentive to partake in these things. My question/suggestion to the devs would be along the lines of not only increasing the rewards that you receive from content such as Chocobo racing, but also providing the players with new types of rewards. Different rewards can even be available monthly.
For example: Ballista/Brenner could reward players with rare trusts such as a stat boosting Cornelia, Princess Claidie, or characters from Vana'diel's past (like how Star Sybil is) or dependent on which nation that player is allied to.
Chocobo racing could reward players with rare mounts such as the infamous White Chocobo, any one of the four Sky gods, a diremite mount, Wyvern mount (big wyvern), and others.
Now I know that it's a lot easier said than done. I'm also aware the the devs are low on resources and have their attention on the monthly changes to Ambuscade and what not. I'm just simply suggesting possible ways to make certain aspects of the game enjoyable again.
I also welcome any fellow players to add any other suggestions they'd like to see happen to make these small, but important parts of the game more enjoyable and playable.
Edit: I changed the original title because I felt as though it was misleading and possibly took away from the objective of this thread.