I have the same rep (Nicole) and she told me that to downgrade you need to give up your current seat location and then you go into a pool with everyone else who wants to downgrade and your order is determined by seniority. If you don't get anything through that process, you have also given up your current seats already so you may end up with something worse. While that seemed pretty punitive (giving up your current seats), given my seats are already very pricey, I would be willing to take my chances anyhow as I don't think I would renew at my current level or higher anyways.
I have the $125 gallery seats and it kills me that one row behind me is $79. I just don't think I can stomach it another season.