5150 vs 70.3

Personally, I’ll travel a pretty far distance to do a Half IM race. I can’t say the same about a sprint/Olympic race. Is that one of the reasons the 5150’s aren’t doing well? They can’t draw on the massive amounts of triathletes like they can with 70.3 and above races? I love doing the shorter races, but I will stick close to home to do those.