Isn't it very profitable to register late into a tournament? You gain tournament equity as soon as someone is busted during the early levels. Of course you will have a lower chance to win the tourney due to your smaller starting stack compared to the average stack, but I think that automatic increase in $ equity may make up for it.

Extreme examples: suppose you buy in for a $1000 tournament, 1000 chip starting stack with 10 entries total (prize pool $5k, $3k, $2k). The skill level is exactly the same between each player. You have $1000 equity. Now if you wait until 5 players are busted and register, with the other stacks being 4300, 2900, 1100, 700, you will have $1330 equity according to ICM. Therefore you gain $330 (1/3 of the buy in) just by registering late, and you have more free time to do other things such as playing cash games or other tournaments.

I guess in an event with a huge number of entries, this may be negligible, and the chance to stack off some random fishes in the early levels is more important than a few $ gained in equity. But in some high roller events or side events with a small number of entries (< 20), I think this strategy could be used profitably.