Thanks for the replies.
It sounds like we can get some more value from the weekday stays so we're leaning towards that right now. NFR is also still in town for our weekend in question. While I can't really put finger how much of an impact crowd-wise it had on our trip last year, we might as just avoid it if we can.
We're probably going to rent a car so less traffic is also a plus. I think the biggest hit we've identified so far is that a couple of shows we're interested in are dark those weekdays that week.