Don't want to step over eggshells or open a can of worms, but I honestly think that the national scene needs to grow from the inside out.
I agree with anyone and everyone who expresses that they go to a local major before anything.
Here in Michigan, back in CT and CS1 out area was quite hated by just about every scene, albiet quietly, they don't follow the game, the news or anything, they pick it up, then put it down and walk away, but then we keep it up, have our own scene do our thing, we commentate, video or not, we scream, we hype, and suddenly, by the end of CS1, we got SF folks talking about picking up CS2, we got Marvel boys looking at our game and actually showing interest. CS2 garnered our scene much more respect and we got other folks in their scene watching our matches, watching training mode shenanigans and being impressed at the non-practical stuff we mess around with. They start getting hype with us, then by the end of the season, we actually get our own stream time. We have people from all scenes shouting at the stuff happening on screen, they don't even fully understand it, but they recognize pressure string, spacing, turn abouts, all the good stuff. Our scene, even though they aren't sure to enter it or not, got recognition.
All that is purely an example, we should:
Stick to our own scene, socialize with other scenes to get exposure (I'm sure this is easier in local scenes than regional), talk with them, honestly speak with them, not just about BB, but about their games, the good things about it, the bad things about it, instill some knowledge in their heads, defend BB, which is much easier to do now that CS2 and CSE are effective fighting games more worthy of being taken seriously than it's predecessors. A lot of that hatred for BB is mostly unpolished, outdated or exaggerated knowledge, or lack of cohesive knowledge about how it functions. If they understand it better, they can respect it better and even try to get into it. Now as of late CS2, Michigan recruited a 3S fanatic, he was the primary communication that got us our own stream slot and he's an active player who is improving faster than most new people.
We should not:
Abandon everyone and make our own major. Let me be precise, I love the idea of having our own major, just for BB/anime games, but the approach to abandon other scenes and congregate on our own will not work at all, simply because we are too poverty. A lot of the reason BB is hated is because we don't communicate with them, we don't even try to plead our case in most instances, we separate ourselves from them and enjoy BB on our own. Some support will certainly help us, it will hype a lot of things up and attract new player serious about getting in the meta-game.
As for tourney turnouts, that probably can't be helped, we were poverty back then, still poverty now, the few of us (you) who can make it out there should come as representatives of your local scenes, netplay or offline, this will improve communication, I've never been to a regional major, so I'm sure there are a lot more than what I can imagine what goes into making a major happen, but it definitely needs a ton of money. Kinda a stretch for a poverty scene, so we definitely need support.
If we're going to do it on our own, we need sponsors, and Aksys/ASW could work, but it's not a sure thing, nothing to throw our backs on.
We can get out of the basement and go on our own, but it's in our best interest to keep a line of communication open to other scenes.
In my humble scrub opinion of course.
