Answers to all the concerns raised so far that I can remember, in no order: =)
---The ViP lounge won't be as much of a "Very Important Person" room as it will be a "Very Privileged Person" room. To be blunt and egotistically-aware: We aren't providing this room as a sort of haven for the star players from the nubs. This feature of the tournament will not have its access handed out via personal bias, it will be available to anyone and everyone for a small admission price. We're looking to stock it with probably 4-6 brawl/melee friendly setups which will be available throughout the tournament, and some luxury sofa seating (as opposed to the run-of-the-mill folding steel chairs which will populate the bulk of the building). A ViP pass will also in all likelihood include vouchers for free drinks and food, refreshed for each day one has a vip pass.
---Also, for this ViP lounge, we've discussed not having it available on Friday, as it would more or less defeat the purpose (or at least unnecessarily supplement it). We might open it up starting Friday evening for a low price, or possibly not at all until the doors open Saturday. Special promotions, such as giving people temporary access to the ViP lounge for, say, finishing 1st Seed in a given round of pools, is also being mulled over.
---AIRPORTS and TRANSPORTATION: Unfortunately yeah, the main airports around Antioch aren't exactly walking distance. However, the airports I would recommend would be:
***SFO (San Francisco International), as there is direct BART (train) service from the airport to much of the Bay Area, including going straight from SFO to Pittsburg without any transfers. However, SFO is generally a bit more expensive than other airport options.
***Oakland International, as there is a $3/person shuttle service which can transport you from OAK airport to the bart station.
http://www.bart.gov/guide/airport/inbound_oak.aspx Coming from Oakland bart, you would need to take a transfer at Mcarthur Station to continue to the pittsburg/bay point station (read below). OAK is generally less expensive than SFO.
***San Jose International, we do not recommend unless you're certain you would be able to both secure housing and a ride to the venue from someone living in San Jose, as the airport is about 90 minutes south of the tournament venue with NO bart access.
---Remember, BART feeds into areas all over the Bay Area, with over 30 stations in tons of towns between the airports and the venue. Very convenient as far as taking Bart to a station near the person housing you & all that.
If heading directly from the airport to the tourney, you'll be able to take BART out into the East Bay to Pittsburg, which is only about a 10-15 minute drive from the venue itself. I won't pretend we have people confirmed to aide in shuttling people as this is still 7 months away...but we fully intend to be able to help shuttle people from Bart to the venue.
---HOUSING --- Is in the works. We're about to open up requests to everyone in Norcal as far as housing support, tournament setup support, volunteers to help keep everything running smooth, etc. We'll either be creating a thread in the Pac West regional zone, and/or on our personal forums created for managing this tournament. This will keep track of all available smashers who are willing to lend their roof to some out-of-state company =). We're also in the process of making arrangement with nearby hotels/motels by the venue, to provide discounted rates.
Edit: Thanks Isai for clarification that the travel cost of the AirBART shuttle from OAK to the nearby bart station is not free, but is indeed $3 per adult.