My thoughts:
I think we need to start Friday if possible.
Finals to be a single race to 5
Single elimination is agreeable to me... Perhaps we can have a simultaneous consolation bracket for 1-loss players
How many tables will be available to us?
All 15 9-footers?
Can we reserve one table for practice/action?
Are VIP spectator tables available?
Even if the bracket is 48, if 15 tables are available for the first three rounds, it won't add much time vs. a field of 32. With 15 tables you can start the tournament on Friday at 10:00 am and use all 15 until primetime and then gradually cut back so as to not kill the owner's business on a busy night. Same thing on Saturday.
With 48 in the field, you have three rounds of 16 matches before 16 players are eliminated and things start to speed up. That could probably be done with rounds at 11 am, 3 pm, and 7 pm and using all 15 tables. I'm assuming a race to 3 here. It should work even with 15 tables because some matches would be lopsided and end quickly (and Tall Jeff's matches will go really fast in any event). If it stays on schedule, the bar would start to get tables back around 8:30 pm. There would be some straggler matches, but those could finish up without using all 15 tables much beyond 8:00.
Then on Saturday, you have a headstart on a 32 person tournament, with 16 on the winners side and 16 on the losers side. You need 15 tables only for the first Saturday round (8 matches on the W side and 8 on the L side, so one match starts as soon as the first of the 15 ends). Once that round is over, you only need 12 tables for the next round, and fewer thereafter.
So, if Lacy's wants to give up 15 tables for that long (and all 15 tables are decent and unobstructed), I think 48 players is doable in 2.5 days.
I think you'd need races to 3 in the initial rounds. Once the winners' side is down to 8 players, you could play to 4 on that side and to 3 on the losers' side. The extra game on the winners' side won't matter at that point because there are so many more matches on the losers' side. If you want the tournament to really speed up, then have the first two rounds in the losers' side be races to 2, and 3 thereafter.
The TD would have to be somewhat militant, and would also have to have a good idea of who plays fast and aggressive--that match would need to be the 16th match that starts as soon as the first of a batch of 15 matches is over.
This is a little self-serving, since I would like to play but won't know if I can make it until September, so I'd like a larger field. In any case, *if* Lacy's wants to give up enough tables for enough time, then I do think a field of 48 is doable.
Also, I strongly recommend double-elimination, given the travel times. One-and-done would really suck.
One more option to speed it up at the end is to have the winner of the winners' side just be the winner and not wait for the winner of the losers' side to be determined. Inevitably, the winner of the winners side has to sit around for a *long* time waiting for the losers side to finish. When I've done this, I reduce the payoff for first place (it's less time and easier to accomplish, so it should pay less). Instead of 50%/30%/10%/(5% and 5%), I would pay closer to 40%/30%/15%/(7.5% and 7.5%). After rounding, that would make the payouts:
1st: $2,000
2nd: $1,400
3rd: $700
4th: $350
4th: $350
(Give or take, based on consensus.)
Just some ideas...
Should be fun no matter what!
Cory