Maybe he just lost interest or quit are my two guesses.

I don't a lot about Salamancer I will admit that. I do however think it is a bit harsh to say Sal should never fund NA teams again. From what I remember about it was that he funded those NA teams with good intentions. So despite what he might have said his intentions for i46 were good. I think maybe what he was trying to say was that it was more likely that valve would support HL because of there being a lot less unlock restrictions and all 9 classes were being fielded as opposed to 4 different classes with weapon restrictions.