Trump’s White House UFC Event: Free Tickets, Million-Dollar Ringside Seats, and a $30M Loss for UFC

President Donald Trump’s planned UFC event on the White House lawn is generating controversy over ticket distribution and pricing, despite the event being billed as free to the public.

NBC News reports that while the UFC is covering the cost of the event, sponsorship packages that include ringside seats are being sold for between $1 million and $1.5 million. Neither the White House nor the UFC has disclosed where the proceeds from these sponsorship packages are going.

The event, scheduled for June 14—Trump’s 80th birthday—will feature over 4,000 spectators, with Trump personally selecting most of the attendees. In a Friday telephone interview with NBC, Trump acknowledged the challenges of ticket distribution, stating,

“I’m going to make a lot of enemies because it’s impossible to get everyone tickets.”

White House communications director Steven Cheung, a former UFC spokesperson, told NBC that Trump is distributing tickets among administration staff, military servicemembers, and VIPs, which could include members of Congress and foreign dignitaries.

Cheung revealed that he and other White House staffers receive daily requests for tickets, saying,

“I get calls, texts or emails every day — a few times every day.”

UFC president and CEO Dana White stated last month that he had taken only about 200 tickets for himself, with the remaining tickets controlled by Trump and TKO Holdings, the UFC’s parent company.

An unnamed Trump adviser described the event as “his show, and it’s being treated that way.” The adviser added,

“The process has been absolute chaos. It’s hard to overstate how many requests have come in, but there is no doubt the people President Trump wants there will be there, and those he does not will not be.”

Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of TKO Holdings, revealed in an earnings call earlier this month that the company expects to lose up to $30 million on the event. Shapiro’s comments suggest that Trump may prioritize personal financial gains from the event, with potential implications for transparency.

The spectacle has been criticized as a misuse of the presidency, with Trump positioned as a central figure controlling access and distribution of tickets.