I hear what you are saying about the Gears' players....It sucks we can't get more people out for this awesome game but we'll show up hoping to run thru some teams.
As for signups, although the signup souinds like it may not work let me share this with you all. I use to help/ref out at Adventure Zone paintball which is waaay out in Guthrie. When a tourney would come up the signup deadline was the saturday night becasue the tourney was on Sunday. There were plenty of teams that could not drive and had to rely on parents to drive them there and they did show up. Alot of times all you have to do is think about it, people that have to enter and leave money there will show up.
I know it sounds like it would not work but if you want to increase the number of people who turn out for these tourneys, you have to get their money early so it does 2 things #1 means you will have more people showing up for it and #2 if they dont show, with no refund you still make money to pay for the place. After all this is a business right? All I'm saying is take care of those that are already showing up to the tourneys by getting them started on time. Word of mouth alone along with these forums will spread by how professional they are being run. If you fail to start these on time then you will lose those that have been showing up.