In order to be Tony's eligible they need to send out comps for every Tonys voter (over 800 of them) They must see the show within the first 16 weeks of the opening. Every Tonys voter has to see every show to cast a ballot so even if they weren't interested they would end up taking the seats from paying customers. In general as a courtesy, Tonys voters get good seats.
Not sure if its fan service or money but it didn't make much sense for Bruce to dish out hundreds of thousands of dollars in comp tickets. He would have been eligible (and most likely nominated) for a legitimate award but there is probably little chance that he would win.
The Tonys however was not going to let a success story like Bruce Springsteen get by them though. By offering up the special Tony everyone wins. Bruce wins a Tony, no legitimate actor is in competition with Springsteen, the Tonys will get an appearance and possibly a song out of Bruce on their awards show.
I guarantee that this is the way everyone expected it to play out.