Earlier this year, Dana White and President Donald Trump announced that the UFC will host an event at the White House in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. The event is scheduled for next June, ahead of July 4th weekend, and with something as unique as this, planning has already begun, and as one might expect, there are some unexpected costs associated with turning the White House lawn into a combat sports arena, including the lawn itself, which will cost the promotion $700,000 to replace after the event.
“There is no doubt about it, this is going to be the most challenging event we have ever done,” Dana White told Sports Business Journal. “I’m coming off a stadium event, which I don’t like stadiums, to the thing that I hate the most in outdoor events. So yes, we got through the Sphere, made it through (the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford boxing match at) Allegiant (Stadium); now we head into Washington, D.C., on the White House lawn. This is just one little piece I was talking about last night: To replace the grass, because we’re going to f*ck up the South Lawn, $700,000 just to replace the grass.”
Such are the complications with hosting an event in an outdoor space instead of an arena, as the promotion usually does; however, the UFC also has some experience designing bespoke events like UFC White House. Last year the promotion put on Noche UFC at the Sphere in Las Vegas, an event which reportedly cost $20 million and earned the promotion two Sports Emmy awards. White seems to have similar aspirations, at least in terms of grandeur, for UFC White House, revealing early mock-ups for the event a few weeks ago that will allowed for the White House to be featured prominently in the viewing.