Maybe lans are not completely worthless. If, they were changed from methods of suckering computer nerds into sponsor-booth funnels, into something people actually enjoyed (like drinking, eating, and watching a game with other people), they might be worth having. Part of the problem though, is the build-up. All you have are qualifiers. What you need is an online league, with a full season. The league could be divided into regions (for ping reasons), and at the end of each season, the top finishers from each region go to the lan (which is basically the championships for the season). That way, audiences have all season long to learn the teams and players, and to watch the games, at their homes, on their 50'' HD flatscreens, with some friends, food and alcohol (or other things of preference). At lan, they should find a similar environment, but instead of sponsor booths and other commercial crap, they could essentially have the same environment as at their house, but with more people, better food, better alcohol (although, not necessarily better other stuff), and larger screens. Of course, the games would also be better, because of lower pings, a more varied player-group, and higher stakes.

With GTV, the cost of 'streaming' an entire online season is almost nothing (even less with torrent-style GTV). It is easy and inexpensive (with Quake Live anyway), to connect a computer to a modern HD flatscreen. Most have VGA ports, if not HDMI, RCA, or component. In that sense, watching the games would be no different from watching any other sports presentation (especially by hybridizing GTV with streaming video). All the necessary evil commercialism can be run through the system, like what Quake Live already does, and/or through a hybridized streaming video system.

By having this type of arrangement, women might actually get involved. Once they're drunk enough, they won't so much notice the 'nerdiness' of their surroundings, and they might even like it... i'm sure they would find it nice, not having to worry about anyone hitting on them, or anyone date-raping them. If there's one thing nerds won't do, it's approach women.

Seriously though, sports should not be about commercial sales and promotion, it should be about having a good time. If they also make people smarter, or healthier in some way, then that's great, but they have to be fun first.