Showcase vs Tournament Set Up

With the tournament and showcase season upon us I want to know where people stand on the following idea that came from the mn girls soccer blog:

Teams aged 12-15 need to win or place well at regional/national tournaments so they can get into the top tournaments when they are older.   They want to be in the top tournaments when they are older so they can be seen by the best/most college coaches.  A lot of the top older tournaments have been going to the showcase format recently so teams don't have to be as focussed on winning so they can play all of their players so they can get an opportunity to play college soccer.  (For the purpose of discussion we are not talking about State Cup in this thread)

Here is where the questions are:

-Should we actually switch the showcase idea around and have the teams between the ages of 12-15 doing the showcase events so every player can play more at this crucial time in development?  Will it also allow players/ coaches to try new things knowing that it wont cost them the tournament championship?

-Do the majority of people like the showcase idea at the older level?  I know it's supposed to be there to get more players playing time, but in all reality player's 1-15, maybe even 1-16, are going to get a lot of playing time already in a 3 day tournament where you may play 5 games if it is a regular tournament set up.