Sorry for the double post, but, reading the stuff everyone is saying has me thinking a lot about it. Would rather say it then just sit on it forever.
Firstly, we knew it wasn't going to be big at all. 10 entrants, 20, 30 tops, it didn't really matter, we knew the turnout that was expected wasn't going to be hit. We've known for about as long as the early-bird registration was open and there were not even 10 posts in the thread. No amount of the TO pushing the event or us saying "we should support this" probably would have changed much, because of reasons similar to what Sage and Cloud have said. So, I think the important question is less "why couldn't we make it big", and more how does the community go about informing TO's about it's habits and intentions? We don't want another TO to set up a SG sign in between GUTS and CEOtaku and then leave forever when people don't show up.
Now, Sharpie says I'm crazy for wanting to do this, but here's my idea: if the community got together and presented the TO with some information, or a formal address, I think it could have helped a lot. As the SGC, an address to a TO could look something like: "Thank you very much, DTN TO, for the opportunity of Main Stage and a Pot Bonus. However, this year doesn't seem to be possible for many SG players. This tournament may only garner 10-20 players, but if you ensure the tournament is well run for those few players, the rest of the SGC will take notice and strongly consider turning out for DTN 2017. Missteps with Prior TO's have left the community plotting out which events are known to treat us well, so that we all can have a good time, so having your SG attendee's walk away happy can see to it that your event is prioritized next year." It's probably a terrible idea, but that's what I would have done. I thought about it when the event was announced, but I didn't think people would listen.
That aside, there's another point that I want to bring up. The game's been out for 4 years, with no balance changes since Robo over a year ago. Everyone who is going to be playing this game in the FGC is already playing, with the only real growth being from people newish to the FGC overall, and I think it's going to stay that way until SG2 (if it happens). In the meantime, when we aren't making content for both ourselves and to help new players who do show up, these tournaments should be for us, not to appease someone who wants us to roll out for a pot bonus and a stage. That's why we started talking about focusing turnouts in the first place, right? To ensure that when we show up, we have a good time, and that we get the most out of our travel, time, and money. I remember what it was like to spread ourselves so thin that 10 people is a major, and I'd rather not have that happen trying to dance for a new TO we don't know. We would rather have 6 tournaments with 50+ people than 12 tournaments with 10 a piece, or at least that was the intention behind focusing on key events.
Also, I would love to go to a
@Mike_Z run event.
TLDR; maybe we should collectively let new TO's know in advance, as a community, when we know their event won't be big. Also, it's fine not going to every event. "Have a lot of fun at a handful events over 10 people a major" is the reason we're focusing on key events in the first place.