Lady Knights,
A darned good question and one I have pondered for quite a while.
My thoughts:
... Current environment: The tournaments that are offered currently are pretty well ran tournaments. We all have tournaments we will never go back to, and most people know who those tourneys are, word spreads, and usually they disappear as they don't have enough teams to field any divisions. However, for the most part, the tourneys available are run by hard working people who like to offer nice venues.
....Are there enough of these good tournaments offered? My honest answer is "NO". While there may be a lot of tournaments offered on the OFC board (thank you Ricky), a lot of these tourneys are in places I have never heard of, nor will ever get the chance to visit. Personally, I think tournaments should offer "A" and "B" venues, and this has been hashed around on this board many times, but that is very hard to do for tournament boards. I would like to see more tournaments offered by some very knowledgable people who know the game and would offer a great venue, jmho. That, however, is much easier said than done. The good tournaments will ALWAYS be popluar, they will always draw many teams. Last year we turned down over 65 teams for our Gapss tournament. We referred them to other tourneys, but most of them told me there aren't enough good tournaments out there.
....You bring up a great point: ..." Have you gone to a tourney expecting better teams and found out they weren't what you expected? Do you think the larger and better tourneys will become invitational only, I've heard of several tourneys thinking about doing this?" .....In my own experience, we are thinking about becoming an invitational tournament, to be honest. I saw some games last year at our tournament where I thought the other team would seriously get hurt by some of the teams we paired them with. This is the nature of the beast. Does a tournament stay open to all teams, and risk serious injury, or does it become an "A" or "B" tournament and invite teams they think are in these class types? Serious injury can result here, too. Tough question to answer.
The only area I can speak for is the Columbus, Ohio area and I feel and wish that there were other tournaments available, as, like you said, the supply can not meet the demand. When I heard Hilliard was dropping their tournament, I personally felt that this area needed to do something, and in a hurry. The issue I see as being very troublesome in the future is if the current tournaments available want to get out of the tournament hosting business. Obvious demand and supply problems here. The "problem" with hosting tournaments is that it is so time demanding, that you better have a lot of volunteer help. Most interested parties can not staff these events, and that really hurts.
This is a great topic to explore. Other insights will be interesting to read.
