Being a person trying to put together multiple tournaments is hard, now try to get sponsors. That's even harder. The thing is, you have to make a pitch to the potential sponsor that will grab their interest as well as show a ROI (return on investment). There is also a matter of trying to get the right sponsor. Everybody is going to be trying for the obvious sponsor, so finding the not so obvious one is ideal. After all, I don't think GameStop or Alienware can fott money or prizes for every tournament across the Americas.
If you haven't figured out how this relates to SC2, I'll let you know now. Absolutely nothing... unless you are involved in tournaments/events. I've sent out hundreds of emails and filled out dozens of forms for tournament sponsorship and advertising offers to hundreds of companies. If one of my wishes came true, I would at least get a rejection letter saying that sponsorship is denied. I'd have more time to do other stuff. but if you don't get enough offers out in a timely manner, you may not get a sponsor at all or possibly... too late.
My brains starting to mush together, so I'll get to the point. With planning tournaments like the NESC2League circuit, it takes a lot of coordinated effort between the organizer, the computer centers, and any type of sponsorship. Without a good transition to the various stages of putting everything together, wires can get crossed and you can possibly lose out on something that is essential, like a LAN center hosting it. Now, with the MLG group showing interest in the local activity of SC2 and other multi-player games, more patience is needed as we continue to push forward into uncharted territory. As long as we get tasks done quickly and efficiently, the future is looking bright.
But I really wish that vendor would get back to me. zzz