Planning for the UFC White House card is underway with the event expected to go down as one of the biggest spectacles in the history of the sport.
President Donald Trump has already been teasing the magnitude of the event by promising numerous title fights expected to take place on the card with a custom built arena being constructed on the lawn of the White House. There’s an expectation for several thousand attendees but who actually gets to sit and watch the fights remain to be seen because there
won’t be any public onsale for tickets for the prestigious event.
“What we’re trying to figure out right now is what we can and can’t do with that event, which is scheduled to take place on Flag Day — somebody’s birthday is that day as well,” TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said during the UBS Globial Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a spectacle. If we thought the Sphere was a spectacle, this is a spectacle on steroids.
“We’re getting requests, I’m not even talking about people who want to buy tickets because that won’t be available. There will be no ticket sales. It will hurt us financially but what this will do for brand, reach, engagement, notoriety, press, earned media, advertiser interest, this is an absolute monster. We’re excited about it. Dana White and Hunter Campbell are hard at work at putting together a sensational fight card.”
UFC CEO Dana White has stated that he expects to begin truly building the card in February but numerous high profile athletes have already requested to compete on the White House card including Conor McGregor and Jon Jones.
The exact layout for the UFC White House event won’t truly be revealed until closer to the date, which coincides with Trump’s birthday, but there are already hints that the fighter walkouts could include a trip through the Oval Office before setting foot in the octagon.
Add to that, Shapiro teased that Trump would almost certainly play some role in the event but what he’ll be doing hasn’t been determined yet.
“Don’t know yet what the president’s involvement will be but judging from the draw day with World Cup, clearly he’s willing to get involved with those sports that he loves and take place on U.S. soil, not to mention the 250th birthday celebration of the United States,” Shapiro said.
“It’s going to be gangbuster and we’re just trying to understand structurally how we can do it and set it up, what we’ve got to build in and replace the soil and the sod and what we can sell from an advertiser standpoint. The only thing we do know at this point is it is happening and there won’t be ticket sales.”
During his appearance, Shapiro also confirmed that approximately half of the UFC’s major numbered events (previously known as pay-per-views) are expected to be simulcast on both Paramount+ and CBS, which extends the potential audience for the promotion’s biggest cards.
That almost certainly includes the White House event, which could go down as one of the most talked about cards in UFC history.
