My question on TFCL is whether or not they make a profit (or make even). It's great and all if they give out cash prizes, but if it's out of their pocket, well that pocket is going to run dry eventually.
And yes while esea has its issues, it is a fairly well known competitive league that gives a certain amount of validity to Tf2 in the esports scene along with FaceIT. It is thought that these companies provide room for possible expansion and growth that community-driven projects (TFCL or PugChamp) don't provide. You could argue that Esea hasn't helped our growth which is a fair statement, but if we did have a swell in the player base it wouldn't be ridiculous for us to get lan back.
That isn't all to say that community driven projects are worthless, but they come from a place of personal drive and love for the game. This is something that I love about Tf2's community is the plethora of love present for this game in community events, groups, and scene. Eventually, though, that love runs out or it doesn't become feasible for them to offer the same service without some compensation. Sometimes there is someone to take their place, other times there aren't. I just don't think that has the same stability that a company would provide, however, I might be wrong.
More importantly, CEVO caused divisiveness and the community couldn't all transfer from one service to the other leading to two small leagues. I don't think that would change now.