Looking at the 330 contra dances tracked by TryContra, which I think is just about all of them, there's a very clear scheduling pattern:

There are more dances on Saturdays than the rest of the week put together. This makes sense: people are mostly off, and they're mostly off the next morning too. If you consider each dance in isolation, Saturday is often going to be the best choice.

The picture changes, however, when you consider tours. I live in Boston, and it doesn't make sense for me to drive 8hr round trip to NYC or Belfast ME to play a single evening. If I can make the weekend of it, though, and play Fri-Sat-Sun, the ratio of driving to playing gets a lot better. Similarly, a 12hr round trip to Philly or 16hr round trip to DC don't work on their own, but they're possible as part of being able to play Wed-Thr-Fri-Sat-Sun in Princeton, Philly, DC, Bethlehem/Chatham/Lancaster, and NYC.

If you're thinking about starting a new series, consider that picking a different day can help you convince bands and callers to come visit. I think Sunday afternoons in particular are underrated: in addition to helping attract touring bands there are a lot of people who have to get up early, more time to drive home means it's possible for people to attend from a larger radius, and there's tons of time left for afters.

It can also be worth explicitly coordinating schedules with dances that are 1-3hr away, and offering a group of dates to a band. Scheduling tours is a pain, but if a group of dances that are normally too far away offered a Fri-Sat-Sun I think many more musicians and callers would consider it.

I wouldn't want to move to a world without Saturday night dances, or one where dances tended not to have any local talent, but I think we're pretty far from this world. Consider prioritizing the cross-pollination benefits of bringing callers and musicians from a bit further off?