Poker Superstars 2 & being 'above the game'

[That guy]

Negreanu writes:

"The Super Stars Invitational II also has an exciting format that I would have loved to participate in. Unfortunately I agreed to a vote along with 17 other players on whether or not we would play in the event based on the amount of money that would be added to the event.

I voted that we should play thinking that no group of 24 players was “above the game“, but when the majority of the others realized that it was silly not to play it was too late. We were replaced by other players as I would have expected. The vote initially looked something like 13 against playing and 4 pro playing, but if we'd voted three to four days later it would have been 15-2, or maybe 14-3 in favor of playing. I hate even thinking about the whole mess because I find it personally very aggravating."

Discuss.

Why would the vote change so dramatically a few days later? I guess the players are feeling a little exploited here. I kind of understand this as a TV network can make good money off an event like this... OTOH, winning a big TV event would surely be good for leveraging yourself to the poker boom.