The staff schedule says we will be doing set-up on Thursday, so I don't think there will be any official events that day.
At the previous 3 National Championships I attended, there has been a free modified event on Friday, once the Professor Cup gets rolling. I expect this to happen again this year, although I don't know for sure. For what it's worth, last year there were more players in the Friday Modified tournament than most of last years' state championships.