Rev 3 Maine now Ironman 70.3 Maine....so why desired now?

Technically, the half had less than 400 participants if we're going to do an apples to apples comparison.

It will operate under WTC's rules so no family allowed to cross the line with a racer.

Yes, the M-Dot means everything when it comes to registrations.

Well... the 35 WC slots and AWA points seem the the big kicker here.  

With only 35 slots you may only have 100-200 people that actually feel that they could get a slot at this race (and thus it is worth doing now when it previously was taking away from a chance to do another race where they could get a slot), but adding 100-200 fast people to a race could attract another 100-200 people that like to be in races with some good competition, and then there may be another 200-400 people that like to be in a bigger race.  

The reason I chose a M-Dot race for my big race last year was because I had done small races and they were a great experience but I wanted to see what a big race was like.  If it was put on by Tough Man, Rev 3, HITS, or any other company that would have been fine with me. I just wanted to be with 200+ people in my AG.  I wasn't looking for a WC slot or AWA points and if I had got an WC slot would have turned it down but I followed the crowds and they seem to ripple down from the WC slots.  

IM added a bunch of extra WC slots for there new races in China.  They do that increase participation.  Some people choose their races based solely on the stats of how many slots are offered and how well you have to do to get one.

So...I guess my question is if they are adding WC slots to new races does that mean they are reducing the number of WC slots at other M-dot races or are they just allowing a larger WC?  

If they are reducing slots at other races then I am sure that participation is dropping at other races.  The race I did last year didn't sell.  We had 1863 participants but that race was consistently hitting 2100 for the three previous years.

Yes, WTC has reduced the number of Kona slots at most/all races.  Most races had 50 slots a couple of years ago.  They now have 40.  The regional championship races have 75.  Even with the lower slot allocations the number of participants at Kona has increased each year.  Seems every two years there's an addition of 100 spots.

For the 70.3 races the number of slots is usually dictated by where the 70.3 WC race is located.  For example, the last couple of years saw only 30 slots at North American races since the WC was in Austria in 2015 and Australia in 2016.  North American qualifying races for the 2017 WC have seen 50 slots due to the WC being in Chattanooga.  Expect that to drop back down to 30 with the 2018 WC being held in South Africa.

Thanks!