I believe the 2 years of data gathering, the 2 years of face to face coaches discussions, the more than 2 years of emails back and forth were all taken into account by the person in charge (Folkstyle development director) of this tournament and when the decision was brought to the board for a vote it was again all laid out there and it was a unanimous decision to change to the current model.
I know this is personal to you since you were the inventing pioneer of this event (and of course thank you for that !!!), but with most things minor tweaks over time need to happen to stay current & marketable to the customers.