There was no chance that the system could handle the load. It's extremely hard to build a system that is going to work well day to day and then handle a 10,000x+ increase in load within a minute. It's like trying to build a grocery store that works as a normal grocery store, but also functions flawlessly when a whole stadium of people let out after a game and want to all shop at the same time. It's technically feasible to build software like that, but it's just not going to happen with the budget an expertise available to CPW, and that's not an insult. It takes a lot of really talented and expensive engineering. There are lots of high end websites out there that buckle under the the same types of load.
It's not really the team's fault. Hopefully they can bring in some expertise next year and keep working on the system, but I don't expect there to be a budget for it. A friend of mine who went to a park in person supposedly was able to get a tag. It looks like they have two front ends built, one for the public and one for agents, so their system is still up and running. Guess it's waiting in line for me next year.