Inside the ‘highly complex’ preparations for Trump’s UFC fight: $60M for staging, 494 port-a-potties and other logistics

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — Building a televised sporting event accommodating more than 100,000 people without any existing arena infrastructure is a massive production. Doing so at the White House adds significant logistical complications.

Court documents submitted by the Trump administration on Wednesday show the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events scheduled this week and through the weekend will cost more than $60 million. That includes food, the brand’s signature “octagon” cage and as many as 494 port-a-potties trucked in for the crowd watching the event live on the South Lawn and via telecast at the Ellipse.

“This is a highly complex, multi-faceted Event that has been carefully planned by a multitude of public and private entities over a significant period,” White House management and administration director Joshua Fisher said in a sworn declaration, submitted as part of a lawsuit that seeks to delay the event until it goes through an environmental review and other permitting processes.

With days to go until fight night, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, the expected crowd size has grown substantially. At a June 2025 appearance at the Iowa state fairgrounds, where Trump announced plans for the fight that he billed as a celebration commemorating the country’s 250th birthday, he predicted it would bring “20-25,000 people.” The new court documents show roughly 125,000 guests are expected, and that another 75,000 people requested tickets.

The documents more broadly reveal a major undertaking and investment by the UFC — bolstered by support from the federal government — to build the elaborate “octagon” stage from the ground up and plan multiple days of programming, culminating in the televised fight that will be attended by the president, first lady and top officials on Sunday night.

In his declaration, Fisher said the more than $60 million cost includes “a substantial volume of perishable food items for the anticipated 4,000 South Lawn guests and over 120,000 Ellipse guests.”

The UFC is responsible for “production, labor, construction, and promotion costs,” while the federal government is providing “emergency equipment and services, including first aid/medical services, law enforcement, and security,” Fisher said.

The underlying lawsuit argues that the event is being unlawfully held at the White House because officials are leaning on a federal rule that exempts events around America’s 250th birthday from having to follow certain permitting regulations. The UFC event, they say, is not being held in honor of the country’s founding but is instead intended to celebrate Trump’s birthday. As a result, officials and the event’s private organizers needed to jump through ordinary regulatory hoops, like conducting an environmental assessment, before moving ahead with it.

US District Judge Amit P. Mehta, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has not set a hearing, though he could order both sides to appear before him in coming days to make their arguments in person. The Virginia residents challenging the event had asked the court to make a decision on their request by Thursday.

Logistical planning for the event began even before Trump’s Iowa announcement, with outside production companies hired, permitting applications submitted to the National Park Service, design and installation of a custom “Claw” arched lighting structure, wrangling of security and port-a-potties and, according to the documents, the coordination of schedules at the highest levels of government.

To halt that effort now, Fisher said in a sworn declaration, would “impose exorbitant costs on all parties involved.”

UFC will host a press conference and face-offs at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, and a ceremonial participant weigh-in and other events on Saturday at the Ellipse, before the main event on the White House South Lawn takes places Sunday. Entertainment, per an hour-by-hour schedule, includes military bands, a performance by Zac Brown Band, a Golden Knights flyover, Clydesdales, the fight card itself and a ten-minute fireworks finale.

The load-in and build process for the event, which began May 20, has required a coordinated effort on a tight timeline with significant security constraints. Every day, 20 to 30 trucks filled with UFC equipment like staging infrastructure and other technical material were screened before installation on White House grounds, Fisher said. And that, he added, has required 700 to 900 subcontractors “with specialized knowledge associated with each element of the build.”

Guidance from the National Park Service requires at least one portable toilet per every 300 guests, a permit issued by NPS says, and planning documents say there will be at least 116 port-a-potties by the Lincoln Memorial and at least 350 near the Ellipse.

There has been setup of extensive security features, including anti-scale fencing, bike-rack barricades and US Secret Service screening facilities. Some roads around the White House will also be closed.

Hundreds of special agents will be involved in the overall security footprint, according to a Secret Service official. DC Police is handling security outside the Ellipse, including street closures, and the US Park Police is “the point on the Ellipse,” the official said.

The Secret Service will do all the screening for those who will be watching on the Ellipse, using Secret Service magnetometers, wanding and other measures. The official described it as “airport-level screening.” Radiation detection, cameras and a “variety of other technology” will also be utilized for security screening, the official said.

The quickly installed infrastructure on the South lawn is expected to be removed just as swiftly. Even though Trump floated keeping the Claw in place, Fisher said it “will be disassembled immediately after the event concludes” and planning documents suggest that that process — along with efforts to remove broadcast equipment, barricades, lighting, staging, food and beverage setup and anti-scale fencing — will begin early Monday morning and conclude by June 23.

The production isn’t entirely without precedent, though there has never been a televised sporting event at this scale at the White House. During the Obama administration, the White House hosted a “South by South Lawn” festival and a BET-sponsored concert. And in the Biden administration, the White House was the setting for an Elton John concert taping and an ice rink.

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This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Devan Cole, Aileen Graef and Brian Todd contributed to this report.