By all accounts I've heard, the organizers have wanted to cancel the event for a while now, but for liability and financial reasons, couldn't afford to until th

By all accounts I've heard, the organizers have wanted to cancel the event for a while now, but for liability and financial reasons, couldn't afford to until they were "forced" to. Eg, venue contracts, sponsorship agreements, etc, generally stipulate that if the conference cancels without good reason, they owe large fees or penalties to the venue, sponsors, etc. The PSF does not have the operational budget to absorb these penalties while also refunding the money for everyone who was planning to attend. So they had to act as if everything was going ahead as normal while also hoping and planning for any contingency that would allow them to cancel the event without suffering financial ruin.