Ok, a response to an old topic, but it's more significant now than it was 18 months ago so I'll give my answer to that question...
The current Area 6 match about to run has <= 6 shooters in each of: Revolver, SS, Prod, Limited. Not a single class in any of those has > 3 shooters. So what could they possibly do for class awards? I know not everyone cares about awards, but at a level II or III, that's part of it. Centerfire pistols are so diluted that maybe 3 matches a year (like the US Steel Shoot) have enough shooters to substantially recognize classes in the individual CFI divisions . If you're something like A class Production, you're very likely shooting solo in a lot of tier II matches. I think many would be happy to just have them combined and actually have some people to shoot against in their class.
I realize everyone could just all voluntarily shoot in limited, but that's just not how it works when you have all the options, has to be officially put in place to work. Optics, PCC, 22's have taken over, there's not enough CFI shooters remaining to spread out over 4 divisions. It made more sense when it was primarily a pistol match. Now it's primarily an optics/rifle match. How many people want to spend $100 to go to an Area match in B production and shoot against one other B production shooter? Dilution is not helping at this point, it's actually killing off the CFI pistol divisions because nobody wants to spend the money to enter a division with a total of 4 other shooters at a level II match. Just save the money at that point and shoot one less division is what's happening. All of the individual CFI division entries are down 50% from last year (even at the US Steel Shoot). Combining the CFI divisions is probably the only thing to keep competition alive at this point for us iron-sight pistol shooters.