I am trying to provide a future resource.
So when someone says, "The number of matches you play has nothing to do with your record", I can respond with, "Well, no one has ever gotten a 2000 rating in under 98 matches", or something similar.
Also, it gives people a benchmark for (minimum) how many matches they will have to play in order to recieve that trip to Worlds. If 2000 is the approximate cut-off line, and you can't make it to more than 3 or 4 tournaments this year, you'd better start planning that trip to Nats now.
Lastly, it is always better to use real-world numbers. Sure, it's possible to reach 2000 in 16 matches; but the real-world restrictions on your rating make this a rediculously impossible feat.
BTW, now that we have Ross's numbers, we have benchmarks for every level. There are probably better numbers out there, but at least we have a start.