We put in measures in the last several years to help promote the qualifiers. We changed the allocation for one of the AC event spots to be available to the largest area qualifier - that qualifier gets to send it's two top teams instead of one.

The event itself also NEEDS 20 teams to be able to afford all of the expenses of the event - maybe the 20 team effort was started so all the "buds" could compete, but today it's necessary to put on a quality event. Even with 20 teams, the entry fee is pretty high...with only 10, it would be higher or the regatta benefits - that we've all become accustomed to at week-long events - would be reduced or eliminated and would probably be to the detriment of the attendance event.

I'm personally in favor of reducing the number of petition slots available...but it's hard to get the people that are nominated or even in some cases, qualify, to attend the championship. To reduce the dedicated petition slots may be pointless as you're going to have to draw from the petition pool to fill the slots that others have left vacant.

PS - we don't use a round robin format anymore...it's promotion relegation and everyone sails to the last round. In the three years I helped with the event, I only heard minor complaints about specific details of the rotation (number of throw-outs, etc.) - my impression (myself included) people like the promo-rele system.