People always oppose online tournaments solely for the reason of 'cheating'. It seems like a foolish argument, being that cheating doesn't occur much in online tournaments, most of it can be eradicated, and when it does happen, it does not outweigh the added profit incurred through online vs. lan systems.

One way to eradicate so-called 'cheating' is to delay streams/gtv by 30 seconds. Another way is to enable players to know the item timings. This second method wouldn't really change the game much, as at high-levels, all the players know the timings anyway. It actually could be helpful and a superior structure, being that it's better for lower-level players, and this is death-match, not item-timing match. Other ways to combat cheating are visual methods of determining whether the player is aimbotting or wallhacking, or more computerized methods of detecting such irregularities or code-hacks. It's perfectly doable, to almost entirely eliminate cheating. In any kind of upper-scale online tournament, the players are all professionals. They have their careers to worry about. If caught cheating, they're fucked. They have absolutely no motivation to cheat, unless their careers are over otherwise (or to the point where they just don't care anymore).

Online pro-play is the superior method. I still don't understand the obsession people have with this antiquated 'lan' structure. It's more expensive, more difficult logistically, more time-consuming (both in travel terms, and in the length of the tournaments themselves; normal people will never spend 4 days watching a tournament), and overall it is less convenient. Latency is about the only real thing lans have over online play. It's not that big of a deal to play from different timezones. And as the internet continues improving, latency will become a non-issue.

As you should all know, the fastest way between two points is a straight line. If internet-play is the future (which it should be; in fact, it should also be the present), we should go down that path. Taking a side-route to lans might be nice, to refill the gas tank and get some food, but we shouldn't spend too much time partying in some small, temporary town.