[simonw]

To clarify: the PSF did not lose $1.8m on PyCon. It spent $1.8m and made most of that money back in revenue from the event.

Most years the cost is fully covered by tickets and sponsors and the event makes a profit.

When PyCon runs at a loss it’s generally a sponsorship problem. The tech industry has seen a lot of layoffs recently, and companies that sponsor large conferences are often doing so for recruiting. If a company is laying people off they are likely to drop their sponsorship budget.