Brink isn't exactly geared toward the competitive player who always plays multiplayer, they trying to blur the line between sp and mp and draw people into multiplayer, not produce a game for veteran gamers.
So they are not so concerned about the competitive league as far as I can tell from what Richard and Paul have said.
Yea, I hope so. The fun part is what excites me

with the whole new SMART system idea

It's awesome when new elements are added to games, like BorderLands (Weapon generator) and TimeSplitters simple mapmaker

etc.
These things make the game a new experience and don't bore people so quickly

Still I do like the idea of mods