That $1.8m figure is money spent, not profit made.
PyCon US usually takes in more than it costs to run - from sponsors and ticket sales.
This year the event ran at a loss, as noted in the post. In the past this has been rare - the PSF’s other activities used to be funded mostly from PyCon profits.
They spend 1.8 million to mess up the sound recordings? I thought the cons was paid for by visitors and private sponsors.