and who exactly/ how many fans WILL PAY to go to see Nicaragua vs Haiti in an opening round match?
Ask someone from Nicaragua or Haiti. The former has a population of approximately 5 million people with another million living outside of Nicaragua (around 300,000 in the US). There are approximately 500,000 Haitians living in the US and it's probably more since there are most likely many undocumented arrivals.
Based on our league size and organisation I can't see why we would think we're entitled to an automatic spot. In addition to that our clubs don't even advance deep into the tournament to say that the quality of the football demands an automatic spot. The lack of quality in other countries' domestic leagues is not a strong point for the automatic spot either. That's like saying 2 wrongs make a right.
Compared to our football league the MLS is miles ahead of us. When have we ever been able to attract the likes of Djorkaev, Beckham, Ljundberg or Angel to name a few?