It"s a tricky one this. Having just experienced the disappointment of seeing 15 unsold seats at Wembley, I agree that there needs to be a solution that balances APAT's need to cover its costs in delivering excellent value/formatted competitons, with the player"s need for good value & convenience.
It should be noted that having tournaments fully sold is a benefit to the players involved.
However, I think there need to be more benefits than this! Someone"s already posted the idea about an annual membership bestowing benefits. I think that this is the way to go - but with no tier system, just a flat-rate membership fee that would give the following example benefits:
1. Tournament pre-reg preference up to say 10 days in advance of the comp
2. A piece of APAT merchandise - a card-guard; t-shirt; cap; calendar & zillions of other low-cost volume items
3. Staking privelege (?)
4. Monthly email updates on APAT special offers
I can"t speak for everyone, of course, but even those on tight budgets would probably value this at something around £20 p/a - that"s about 3 packets of fags...
It also has the benefit of simplicity, and perhaps the "welcome pack" could include the facility to authorise payment by DD, which I believe would keep transaction fees relatively low - and even offer people the choice to pay by cheque in the post should they so wish (and this is even cheaper for APAT)
Maybe I"m being niaive...