Well, the article is specifically about the kind of large-scale tournaments that "require a float of several million dollars" and "might require 120 judges and

Well, the article is specifically about the kind of large-scale tournaments that "require a float of several million dollars" and "might require 120 judges and other staff members" and have full-time employees, so I doubt the organisers actually have time to play. You get much better economics if your event is small enough the organisers can fit it in around a full time job, and you can staff it entirely with volunteers. But those sorts of events aren't big enough to need convention centres that charge $750 per trash can.