On the satellites / buy-in front, the 2 months enables satellite winners plenty of time to book time off, save up for additional expenses such as hotels &/or travel. Equally, the 2 months enables our generous sponsors Betfair time to market seats to be won in freerolls or other specific promotions.
Personally, I don"t have a problem with lumping my money in 2 months in advance.
What many people seem to be missing is that buying direct is not compulsory the moment the tank is open.
It"ll stay open for some time...the old days of clickfesting at 9.00.30pm to ensure a seat are long gone. I don"t think we"ve had a full tank on the night at all in S4 (with the possible exception of DTD).
If it was 2 months it would be better than the 6 months March to August, and, the Dublin event is more than 2 months, but would have been nearly 3 months...
Your reasons for having the buy-ins this far ahead dont really make sense. Saving up for traveling and hotels can still be done if the buy-in was the normal 1 month like it always has been. If I think I want to play Coventry at the end of November, and I need to save up to play, then I start saving when is apropriate, if, 1 month before the event, I dont satt, and I dont get a seat, then I have the benefit of some extra savings for something else or another APAT event. I dont need to know that I got a seat before making the money to play it.
I also do not agree with you regarding the clickfest night. How can you say that the buying direct is not compulsory and that it does not fill up... The Welsh event filled up all seats within 5 minutes. The Vic event filled up 90% of the seats immediately with the remainder within 24 hrs (iirc).. Austria, Aberdeen and Estonia have shown a distinct lack of interest. Your message that it is not compulsory implys, no rush, it never fills up immediately any more anyways, take a month or so more, it will be ok..!! So wrong..