Hello there,
First of all, you guys need a suggestions area.

A mate of mine was looking at setting up a big LAN (He was hoping for a few hundred, but eventually realised how hard it would be to get that amount up there), and he contacted Valve about what it takes to get a steam content server at a LAN.
This is their reply:
QUOTE
In some cases we are able to setup dedicated content servers for such large events, however, it would have to be approved and able to be done by our team.
Once you verify that the tournament will actually occur would we be able to proceed with an option of your own content server.
Perhaps it would be worth looking in to at Respawn?
I have no idea on what the logisitics of it could be, whether they charge for the service, or even whether if people buy games there they shout you a bit of the sales as a thanks. It would, however, make life easier in respect to the "TF2 update the night before" thing we had at the last LAN.
-Squid