UFC Event Planned for White House South Lawn Next Month

The matches are scheduled to coincide with President Trump's 80th birthday on June 14 and a month-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. April Melton, chair of the Black Hawk County, Iowa, GOP, said she is eager to attend after hearing about the event at a midterm campaign rally in Des Moines.

"How do we get tickets? " Melton said. " President Trump said he is personally selecting most of the attendees. "I'm going to make a lot of enemies because it's impossible to get everyone tickets," Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News on Friday.

All tickets to the South Lawn are free, and the UFC is covering the costs of the event. Sponsorship packages that include ringside seats have been selling for $1 million or more, according to a Republican lobbyist familiar with the arrangements. One report placed the price at $1.5 million.

The White House referred questions about sponsorships to the UFC. The organization stated that it is not selling tickets but declined to comment on the destination of sponsorship funds. On an earnings call in May, Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of TKO Holdings, the UFC's parent company, said the company expects to lose as much as $30 million on the matches and related activities in Washington.

Dana White, president and CEO of the UFC, said he received 200 tickets and gave the remainder to President Trump. "It's crazy. It's insane," White told NBC News. " Another 200 tickets are controlled by TKO Holdings. President Trump is allocating his share among members of the military, VIPs that include friends, members of Congress and foreign dignitaries, and administration staff, according to White House communications director Steven Cheung.

Cheung said he and other White House officials receive multiple requests for tickets each day. He is maintaining a list of those seeking entry. Cheung previously worked as a UFC spokesman. Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, said that for the past four months the only thing people have asked her and her husband Eric for is a ticket to the event.

"It is the hottest ticket in town," she said. A contractor working at her home offered to perform the job for free in exchange for a ticket, she added.

The UFC is constructing an open-air stadium on the South Lawn that will include an octagonal fighting ring. A 90-foot-tall archlike structure is being assembled in rural Lititz, Pennsylvania, before being shipped to Washington. Installation is expected to take nearly a month.

As many as 85,000 people may watch the fights on large screens from the Ellipse south of the White House. Paramount+ will livestream the event for its subscribers nationwide. Bernie Moreno, a Republican senator from Ohio, said he has received numerous requests for tickets despite his greater interest in a separate IndyCar-style road race planned for August in Washington.

"President Trump is somebody who really understands what Americans want to see and what's on their minds," Moreno said. One Trump adviser described the ticket allocation process as chaotic but said the president will ensure that those he wants to attend will be present.

" The combination of high demand, limited supply and presidential control over distribution has made the event a channel for donors and corporations to provide sponsorships. A Republican lobbyist said the Trump fundraising team is raising money for the event and has added it to a list of entities that allow donors to gain favor with the president.