I bailed on the AMA some 25 years ago and haven't looked back. I remember a time when the NATS bounced around the country year to year and it was rare when any category had no participants. That all went away when AMA HQ left the DC area and went to Muncie. That move IMHO signaled when the AMA quit building any relationship with the government.

There are a lot of communities in the country that would be more than willing to host a NATs. I just do not believe the AMA wants to nor knows how to approach these communities to secure the venue. If they did know how, there would be a lot more flying sites around.