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White House UFC Fight
President Donald Trump is set to host UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn on Sunday, Flag Day, and also his 80th birthday, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
“The UFC event at the White House will take place in four months, and its cost could exceed $60 million once all fees are accounted for”
The Las Vegas Sun says the card is a seven-fight mixed martial arts event and that it marks the first time in U.S. history that a professional sporting event has been staged at the executive mansion.
In court filings discussed by CNN, White House management and administration director Joshua Fisher said the event will cost more than $60 million and described it as "a highly complex, multi-faceted Event that has been carefully planned".
CNN also says the preparations include "as many as 494 port-a-potties" trucked in for the crowd watching live on the South Lawn and via telecast at the Ellipse, with roughly 125,000 guests expected and another 75,000 people requesting tickets.
Lawsuit and Government Response
A lawsuit filed by Virginia residents seeks to block the UFC event at the White House, and the Trump administration asked a judge to reject the effort, saying regulations were followed and the event falls under an exclusion from environmental guidelines, according to Deadline.
Deadline reports the Justice Department wrote that "All these hopes could be dashed at the very last moment" by plaintiffs who "want to spoil the event for everyone else."
CNN reports that US District Judge Amit P. Mehta has not set a hearing, though he could order both sides to appear, and it says the Virginia residents had asked the court to decide their request by Thursday.
CNN also says Fisher’s sworn declaration warned that halting the effort now would "impose exorbitant costs on all parties involved," and it describes a timeline that began May 20 with load-in and build work for the event.
Costs, Crowds, and Stakes
The event’s scale and logistics are central to the dispute, with CNN describing an expected crowd of roughly 125,000 guests and 75,000 additional ticket requests, alongside perishable food items for 4,000 South Lawn guests and over 120,000 Ellipse guests.
“Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a multimillion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had not yet heard from his friend, President Donald Trump, about his views on the company’s new streaming platform”
CNN says the federal government is providing "emergency equipment and services, including first aid/medical services, law enforcement, and security," while the UFC is responsible for production, labor, construction, and promotion costs.
In a separate account, Boxemag says TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro confirmed the event should cost around $60 million and that the figure could rise by the start of hostilities in June, while TKO expects to recover at least half through sponsorships and partnerships.
Boxemag adds that Shapiro said, "we will not profit from the White House event independently," and that TKO also will not make money from the United States' 250th anniversary, framing the card as a long-term investment tied to media visibility and audience growth on Paramount+.
