I've often thought of this to. I play the $100NL for a living and wanted to start playing MTTs when my BR hit x amount of dollars. I reread Inside the Poker Mind for like the 30th time and he said the reason he doesn't play tournaments is because he doesn't have as much of a positive expectation an hour so he doesn't play them. This made me change my mind because there is no way to make in $20/$30 tournaments that I make 6-7 tabling the $100.

So I just wanted to share my thoughts about it and why what you're saying is true. Although I think it's that one big score that makes it worth it. So I continue to play small buyin rebuys and 20/30 dollar tournaments.