tl;dr: Because Dominion is small, Riot constantly overlooks the potential that is Dominion. Also, ranked is so overdue Riot is getting audited by it's community.

Hey all, I'd like to share my opinion on how I view SR and how Riot centers everything around it and how it effects me, a Dominion-only player.
Your opinions may differ, might cause rage, or may even be the same as me. Just tell me what you think.

The "small town" theory is what I will call this.

I live in a small town that's very very close to a large city (San Fransisco/San Jose). Often times on the Radio, TV, and even local newspaper, I see news directly relating to San Fransisco/San Jose that has nothing to do with me so it's just simply disregarded. Not to mention all the ads for stores that I would have to drive 4+ hours to get to (wasting money on ads in a place that will never visit).
You will constantly get people vacationing to this small town I live in who live in this big city as a cheap and easy place to get some relaxation, but once they vacationed here, they feel they have experienced it in it's fullest with just one visit.
Everyone from these large cities have a low opinion of this small town purely because it is a small town.
In comparison, Riot Games is the state, Summoners Rift is the metropolis, and Dominion is the small town out the outskirts of this metropolis.
I see a huge/large announcement for a big update that Summoners Rift will be getting (Graphics Update/Custom Wards are just two examples) and I just ignore them because they're not for me or don't concern me in any way.
I see the tourism from Summoners Rift in Dominion (anyone ever run into the "just testing SR builds" guy?), they experience it and leave.

Right now, the small village of Dominion is suffering greatly from the lack of government attention from State Riot. Yes, we have been given Mayor Nome and someone to manage the highways and streets (Rival). And every once and awhile there is an ad on a major network channel that lets people know we exist, but it doesn't really make people want to stay or learn more (Thank you Kry0 for trying). It has become limited from expanding because of laws made for the metropolis that have little to no effect on the Dominion village but we have to deal with the laws anyways simply because we're close by proximity.

How can we expand this small village of Dominion into at the very least, a city? Simple. Riot needs to change some sectors and zones to allow us to expand ourselfs (aka, ranked). New businesses and people won't move to a small town that doesn't have proper zoning for construction/business/residential because they don't want the hassle of dealing with the government to open these spaces.

The paper work has been finished, we just need a government official to sign the papers.

It is my dream to see this small town prosper into a great city that can make it more than just a vacation hot spot.

I don't feel that I need to explain any further, but if you would like me to, I will go into deeper thoughts on this.

i like this analogy

Not a perfect metaphor but I enjoyed it.

Ranked didn't do anything for TT except get the entire map scrapped after 2 years of neglect.

What makes you think it's going to be a different story for Dominion?

I think the old TT was much more broken than the current Dominion which kept a lot of people away from it. It benefited the enemy team if YOUR team got a single inhibitor, people could turtle for 50 minutes and turn it around, and tons of other problems. Not to mention TT is like a mini version of SR. Dominion on the other hand attracts a new audience, an audience that wants to get away from the SR type game. TT just took the SR game and made it for 3 people. I really do think it would be a different story for Dominion. Dominion is still seen as a joke map to most players, and largely because it's not recognized by Riot.

What works for one small town or community may or may not work for another small town or community.
I'm saying we can't know until we try it out.