BaBsLets be honest here, how many teams without the name Ronin or Froyo have an actual chance at winning ESEA Invite (taking nothing away from any other invite team but I mean come on lets be realistic), more or less a LAN. I don't see a lot of teams from other countries spending the time and money to come to the USA if the competition is mediocre at best.
I'm not really an expert on invite TF2, but from what I have seen since I started playing, lans always seem to attract some of the older players to come back to the game, even if it is only for that short time, could make some interesting games if that happens