While it would be nice for more teams from the northeast to jump on the PGF bandwagon, you cannot ignore the cost factor either. I think many teams this year just decided not to do any nationals because of the cost.
Jon - you also have to consider the competitiveness of the teams in NE and the northeast. Most of these teams could go to PGF but would never be competitive there. That's pretty clear. How much money do you want to spend to go to a tournament where you are lucky if you win one game. Most of these teams would rather travel west to a tournament with a little lower profile to play the west coast teams - not as much to lose.
How about this idea? Have a PGF eastern nationals next year where you invite the top northeastern teams to play and have a series of qualifiers too. Then give the top 8 teams from that event an invite to the California event the following year. That may be the best way to raise the profile of PGF and get more eastern teams involved.