EPT
In essence, it looks like Valve managed to add two days to the International 2013 compared to last year, but somehow still managed to recreate the games at late hours in front of a skeleton crowd. It is showing exactly how Valve time works. Because with schedules here, there is always "plenty of time" before everyone is once again staring at a clock strike midnight at Benaroya Hall.
While the days are no longer 18 hour marathons from 9 AM to 3 AM, Valve has only effectively cut the day to 14 hours, from 11 AM through 1 AM. An upper limit of 10 games per day has been very effective in reducing the length of the day. However, with the later opening of the gate at 11 AM instead of 9 AM and a more involved introduction, means that games start at about 12:30 PM.
At the same time, Valve has transformed the analyst desk into a solid production project. Valve has Kaci walking around Benaroya Hall for fan interviews, and before the start of each series, there are a nice player and team introduction series. What was originally nice content to fill up the space between games and cover the time of equipment changeovers, the new production is lengthening the inter-game breaks and using more that the absolute necessity for equipment changeovers.
So there you have it Valve time at Benaroya Hall is in full effect. So if you see pictures of some TL staff snoozing it up in the balconies during a game. Don't be surprised.
