Per the photo’s of the various balloon sites, it looked like DARPA staffed each of the mooring sites with three geeks. Since the great red balloon hunt was supposed to last up to nine days DARPA actually saved (8 days x 3 geeks) 24 geek days of personnel cost by having the contest completed by 9 pm ET on the first day of the contest.
Assuming a very modest $280 ($35 per hour) geek day rate, DARPA saved $6,720 in personnel cost with the quick finish.
A great observation, but the balloons were only supposed to be up for one day! The nine-day period was for group collaboration and information bartering, but the balloons were only to be launched on Saturday, no matter what.
Actually, I believe the balloons were only going to be up for Saturday. The other days were just extra time for teams to gather information and submit it, etc.