A legal challenge has been launched in an attempt to prevent a planned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event from taking place on the grounds of the White House later this month.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday by the Public Integrity Project in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks an emergency injunction to halt UFC Freedom 250, which is scheduled for 14 June. The event is intended to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and forms part of the administration’s celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.
If it proceeds, the event would be the first professional sporting contest ever staged on White House grounds.
The case has been brought on behalf of two Virginia residents, political activist Susan Douglas and Vietnam War veteran Paul Romano. They argue that the use of the White House and the Lincoln Memorial for a commercial sporting event is inappropriate and potentially unlawful.
According to the lawsuit, the President is providing UFC chief executive Dana White — a longstanding friend and political ally — with unprecedented access to some of the nation’s most prominent public sites. The claim alleges that this arrangement amounts to preferential treatment and breaches a range of federal rules and regulations.
“The President is giving White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event,” the filing states.
Preparatory work for the event is already underway, including the construction of a large arena structure featuring a reported 600-tonne steel arch on the South Lawn of the White House.
The lawsuit asks the court to rule that the approvals granted for both the event and the associated construction works are unlawful. Douglas and Romano also contend that, as regular visitors to the area, they are adversely affected by what they describe as an inappropriate spectacle taking place near national monuments.
The defendants named in the case are the National Park Service and the US Department of the Interior.
The legal filing argues that federal law places strict limits on private commercial use of significant national landmarks and parkland in Washington, DC. It claims that under normal National Park Service regulations, sporting events are not permitted on the South Lawn or at the Lincoln Memorial, and that permanent or temporary structures cannot be erected on the South Lawn without congressional authorisation and a comprehensive environmental review.
Responding to the lawsuit, the White House described the action as “obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory”, arguing that the event would become one of the most significant sporting occasions in the country’s history and was being held as part of America’s semiquincentennial celebrations.
The administration also maintained that the event is comparable to other functions routinely hosted on White House grounds and elsewhere on the National Mall.
Dana White has previously stated that the UFC will spend approximately $60 million (£44 million) on producing the event and will cover an estimated $700,000 (£515,000) in restoration costs for the South Lawn afterwards.
Attorney Brendan Ballou, representing the challengers, criticised the commercial nature of the event, pointing to premium ticket packages reportedly costing up to $1.5 million each, alongside lucrative broadcasting and advertising opportunities.
He argued that allowing private interests to profit from iconic national landmarks raises broader questions about the use of public spaces and whether such venues should be used in ways that could financially benefit political allies of the President.
The court has yet to rule on the request for an emergency order.
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