Also, just to be clear, it's my position that we as a group should be serious about this shit. I'm not treating this discussion in purely hypothetical terms. It seems obvious that current tournament series need drastic change, if they survive at all.
Step 1 is designing and testing a workable alternative, ensuring fun, watchable play that's affordable for players and fields. This is aimed at expanding and energizing the player base.
Step 2 is coupling this with a proposed ranking and matchmaking system, both individual players and teams can sort themselves without expensive tournament days. I'd propose automated scheduled matchmaking for teams in lieu of tournaments. Again, all of this can easily be handled by software that makes life easier for players and fields.
Step 3 is creating a national halo event to further incentivize local fields to use the format. Preferably in late Fall in Vegas, because costs. Qualification can be based on ELO rank OR victory at local qualifiers.
Someone more familiar with distribution models than I can probably figure out the consequences better than I can, but the idea is that disseminating one massive, compact event is more effective than the "Tournament Series" that are currently run and webcast. Webcasting regionals, within reason, should be fairly easy. The main downside I see is that following a single team across a long period of time and getting high level play consistently may be difficult. I have no sense for what the level of play is for a pro team in their home region - ostensibly in the current format all the best players in a given region are incentivized to band together.