If its going to be competitive there should be an entry fee of at least 10-15k, to keep new players out of it. Actually, there could be certain types or tournaments to separate the bad, good, and great players. For the noobs there could be like no entry fee but less money for the winner, and the same goes for the other two but the money for entry fee and winning just gets increased.
Remember, a large portion of the community aren't active on the forums. But I'll take what you said into consideration.
I think we should just hold tournaments every conference like we used to do. That way a lot of the staff are on to participate and get to know the player base.