NevadaBowl - I saw on a few other sites there were some ex-PBA members at the TAC. I haven't seen the results yet, but I'm sure there will be some familiar names. I agree with your assessment of the brackets. I'd love to see them posted, but then again, so would the IRS.
I've bowled a few scratch sport shot tournaments in York, PA. (suburbanbowlerama.com). With a $30 entry fee and 1st place between $300 and $400 they get over 50 entries because they run a bunch of brackets. Even when some of the PBA Eastern Region bowlers show up (Kasimakis, Tryniski, Reale, Pelchar) you can still move up half your brackets with a 200. They post the dollar amount for the Big Winner of the brackets, and it's not unusual to see this figure over $1000. Last week they ran a 10 game marathon with brackets 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, etc., and had over 70 entries. On the flip side, the Philadelphia ABT Masters Division had 6 entries last week and paid $150 for 1st.