Hmm, that sucks... I feel slightly bad, as I missed both this week and last week's tournaments due to other things I had to do. I'm glad to hear that there are plans in the works, though. I don't pvp too much, as I prefer playing pve due to the extra mark/hp challenge and the ability to go afk for hours midgame if need be, but the occasional tournament is about right for my needs.
I'm not sure how it would work, but another online CCG I play (which I will not name because it's the competition :p) has a system where players can create their own tournaments with an automated system; these had an entry fee. As well, there were biweekly free ones created by the game owners. There would be issues to work out, like making sure people couldn't create a zillion accounts and put them all in a tournament to guarantee a win. This other game does it by having the total prize payout equalling less than the entry fees, but here, the first prizes have no equivalent in-game value as they are unobtainable otherwise, so I'm not sure how it would be done.
Regarding playing in both tournaments, the current rules state you may play in both tournaments each week, with the following exception: If the western tournament is full (64 players) and you played in eastern, you cannot play in western that week. As the highest I've ever seen play is about 30-35 players, and usually 20+ is rare, this is not an issue.