I think the sad reality is that the East Coast doesn't travel to the West Coast outside of the Capcom community.
I think even with Mortal Kombat at the height of it's popularity we only had a small handful of players that have actually attended West Coast events (ie: Pig of the Hut, 16 Bit and CD Jr.).
The FGC as a whole is primarily dominated by East Coast majors (around 90% of tournaments), I can't fault the players for not wanting to spend the time and money to travel, especially when the reward for doing so is not worth the investment considering there are several other events that are far more convenient.
As a result of this I believe the West Coast players suffer because we are viewed as having inferior competition in addition to it being difficult for our players to attend East Coast events (travel expenses).
In the past, I remember 16 Bit's accomplishments of having won SCR were belittled with the general TYM mantra that "The real competition wasn't there because it was a West Coast event".
I don't know what point I am trying to make beyond trying to identify some of the problems. This hobby can get incredibly expensive and difficult to justify continuing to support over a long period of time.
I will likely attend SCR despite that I haven't been as active in this community lately. I feel like I owe it to my local community that continues to maintain interest around the scene that we have built.
