At the last contest I attended there was some discussion regarding ways in which participation could be increased. Generally speaking, you do not see many people from the clubs hosting the events participating in them. From what I heard, in the pre-trunaround days, participation at the sportsman level was quite high and in many instances it was sufficient to fund the event (i.e. meals, trophies, etc). The idea centered in creating a non-turn around sequence built around maneuvers which most sport pilots can fly (i.e. loops, rolls, cuban eights, etc). Such a sequence would allow participation without the need for much practice and it would give the local hotshots an opportunity to show off. The consensus is also that the current sequences have probably become more difficult than they need to be and maybe discouraging pilots from participating. I agree with this to some degree, the current Advanced sequence is more difficult than the one it replaced, but then again, I am already hooked so it is an easy sell.
I think that the hobby offers many more options than it did a few years ago, ok, maybe 20 years ago, and our event will always have a limited draw. The concern is that we are not attracting many new pilots.