synchroCEVO doesn't make a dime from the entry fees, it all goes to next season's prize pool.
They're still missing out on a bunch of money. The only difference is it wouldn't line their pockets. If anything that's worse, right? Now it affects the whole CEVO competitive scene. Having a successful first couple of seasons is pretty important I'd think. His point is completely valid.
Also, I find it interesting that you put words in so many peoples' mouths. Where are all the newer players saying they went to CEVO because they were impressed by the responsiveness? I haven't seen one person other than you say that the reason they're playing in CEVO is because of CEVO, NOT because of some sort of moral righteousness or anger at ESEA. Are these newer players incapable of posting? From my point of view it honestly just looks like a bunch of people jumped on the "fuck ESEA" bandwagon without really considering how much they are giving up. Sure it's without consequence for this magical group of newer players who just want to have fun (UGC?), but I think it's completely reasonable for anyone who genuinely wants to keep seriously playing competitive TF2 for a while be upset if ESEA dies. How long did it take ESEA, who had other SIZABLE sources of income, to get a LAN? Five seasons, right? CEVO, as has been brought up already, doesn't make a dime anywhere else, unless Nahanni funds the first few LANs from pocket there's no way it will happen in the conceivable future, and that means losing the entire top half of our game. Some people seem to dismiss this, but imagine the slow death that would await competitive if CEVO sputters.
Furthermore, not one person on the anti-ESEA camp has addressed the point that none of the bad things brought up about ESEA - malware, bitcoins, lPkane, poor PR, servers, client, delays etc. etc. haven't already been addressed by Killing, and the ones that haven't been "fixed", for the time being, do not directly affect TF2.