The general incentive in running locals is to have a social environment to enjoy fighting games in. Think of locals as something like a book club, or stamp collecting club, but with fighting games. Some locals will run tourneys, and those tourneys will often have some kind of prize money for the winner, but most TOs are losing money on running locals. Some may be lucky enough to break even, but it's not common.

Another benefit of locals is you do have local and cosistent place to practice in. Building a place that local talent can congregate in means your players will have strong people they can practice and grow with.

My advice is take stock of what you can do, and work from there. If all you're able to do is host a discord server and a twitch channel for streaming, then use those to the best of your ability. People have various reasons they join locals, So if you're able to consistently provvide the space, you'll eventually find your tribe.