Level of delusion in this thread is disturbing.
ESEA is still P2P, even if it is less expensive than previously, the very notion of P2P still exists.
Secondly, level of interest in TF2 isn't high enough for this to be anywhere near sustainable beyond one season, best case scenario ESEA gets 20 new teams, downward trend resumes, ESEA would have to keep marketing offers to keep the new level of growth sustainable.
Thirdly I doubt anyone from ESEA actually did any research on what the demographics who play UGC but not ESEA actually want in a league, I don't think the answer is "to be a little less cheaper to play" - When you put community leagues and P2P leagues together in TF2, the only advantage ESEA has is prizes (of which are meaningless to the average newer player) or are counteracted by being by products of something people do not see the need to pay for due to the alternatives (stats, servers, forums etc).
The P2P model doesn't work in TF2, as proven throughout history and when the community is half its size today than it was 5-6 years ago, if anyone truly believes this will have any impact at all then you're extremely deluded. I would love to see P2P leagues being successful in TF2, but this is just some cheap ploy which will not work even if UGC advertised it on their forums or not.
Time to wake up TFTV.