You are quite right. The thought occured to me partially through writing the original post that I was looking at it from the wrong perspective. There are plenty of low-cost direct training alternatives such as user groups, yapc, and very capable people willing to speak for cheap or free. I thought I'd finish the post anyways for the sake of discussion :)
Still from a business perspective I do not view such training as cost-effective. The alternatives of sending employees to yapc, or having someone come in and speak would often be far more effective.