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WASHINGTON, D.C. — UFC pulled off the first pro sporting event at the White House with enthralling knockouts and almost no major logistical issues, but in a polarized country the impact of the card will likely be debated for some time.

The UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of America’s most famous landmark was an unprecedented event that drove huge interest and endless opinions across the country. The card featured seven fights -- fewer than a typical event -- but every one of them ended with a knockout or TKO. That’s the first time that’s ever happened in UFC history and indicates that UFC’s matchmakers delivered despite heavy criticism from some corners of social media in recent months that the card didn’t fit the bill of such a historic sporting event.

The card was shown exclusively on Paramount+, something that also drew some criticism on social media on Sunday night. At the fan fest across the street from the White House, UFC President and CEO Dana White said that 60,000 people attended Saturday’s ceremonial weigh-ins and that almost 200,000 went through the turnstiles over the course of the two-day weekend. About 4,300 people were expected at the temporary venue on the South Lawn, and the seats appeared to be close to full when the card started.

The card drew huge reaction. Nine of the top 30 trends on X on Sunday night were about the UFC event, including seven of the top 10 as of 10:49pm ET. At his post-fight press conference, White said UFC beat its all-time sales record for merchandise at an event by double, and that he had just spoken with Paramount Skydance Corp. CEO David Ellison, who was “going crazy” because it was a “monstrous” night for Paramount+. Noting that the expected rain ended up splitting the White House on either side, White added, “You couldn’t have had a better night -- it was absolutely perfect.”

President Trump on Sunday “celebrated” his 80th birthday during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn. UFC fighter Justin Gaethje capped his unification championship victory in the main event over Ilia Topuria with a “backflip off the top of the cage,” and he “crouched near Trump for a celebratory chat.” Trump later “stepped into the cage to congratulate Gaethje.” Gaethje “mustered some scattered ‘USA!’ chants” against the Spanish-Georgian Topuria. Although, “not even the main event could stop the trend of mostly quiet fights.” It took the “gory sight of a bloodied” Topuria, “nearly having the fight waved off,” to get a “let them fight!” chant going. Over 4,000 fans, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, were in attendance on the South Lawn (AP, 6/15).

At least “nine Cabinet secretaries” attended the event. Trump “wore a UFC lapel pin below his standard American flag” as he and UFC CEO Dana White “walked out of the Oval Office, through the mansion, and emerged on a balcony” as the band played “Hail to the Chief.” A delta formation of 12 fighter jets “roared over the White House” as country artist Zac Brown sang “O’er the land of the free.” UFC analyst Joe Rogan said, “I have seen some surreal things in my life -- this is the most surreal” (WASHINGTON POST, 6/14).

The UFC experienced its “first rain delay” before the event began. Despite concerns over the weather with the region expecting wind and thunderstorms, it “turned out to be a mild and peaceful evening apart from occasional gusts of wind.” The fight card got underway “less than an hour late and was able to proceed without interruption.” The card also “drew fairly positive reviews,” though there was “plenty of dissent on social media about the symbolism of such an event, especially one that had a few political moments” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/14).

The crowd -- a “mix of military service members, administration officials and Trump allies” -- reveled in the “unabashed masculinity of the scene, cheering on fighters as they bloodied each other’s faces and invoking patriotic chants.” Some “winced” later in the night when fighter Josh Hokit “made a crass remark in a post-fight interview.” Hokit, referring to former First Lady Michelle Obama said, “Lastly, Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?” After winning his fight, Hokit, “wearing an American-flag bandana and sunglasses, presented Trump with his gold-chain necklace” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/14).

Numerous celebrities, athletes and political figures were in attendance at the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn. President Trump “sat ringside beside” First Lady Melania Trump. The crowd included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) was there as well as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin were there and so was Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Musician Kid Rock showed up, and so did former MLBer Roger Clemens and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Knicks owner James Dolan “walked up to the president to pay his respects” (N.Y. TIMES, 6/14).

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby was “among the invited guests” in addition to his friend and podcast co-host Brogan Roback, as well as former NFLers and “Bussin’ With The Boys” hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan. Others in attendance included boxer Tyson Fury, comedian Shane Gillis, WWE Superstar Roman Reigns, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and House Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Additional guests were Poland President Karol Nawrocki, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, and investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/14). WWE President Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque was also among the guests at the event (SBJ).

A looming summer storm forecast could not “dissuade” the thousands of UFC fans from experiencing what was “certainly a unique watch party” at the Ellipse for the UFC Freedom 250 event. An “army of lucky lottery winners navigated mazes of security barriers” to watch the event on big screens “in the shadow of the Washington Monument.” The viewing area was “said to be capable of holding at least 75,000 people” (N.Y. TIMES, 6/14).

Florida Panthers LW Matthew Tkachuk and Senators LW Brady Tkachuk “were part of pre-fight festivities.” The Tkachuks “appeared on stage and answered a few questions about their interest in UFC.” Influencer Logan Paul was also “among those who showed up to entertain the crowd” (AP, 6/14).

UFC fighter Sean Strickland “attempted to enter the UFC’s fan festival.” The U.S. Park Police said that it “evacuated Strickland from the area after a surge of fans came toward him around 7 p.m.,” two hours before the beginning of the main card. The Park Police in a statement said, “Strickland was neither cited nor arrested in connection with the incident” (ESPN.com, 6/15).

The Hurricanes on Sunday captured their first Stanley Cup in 20 years with a 3-0 win over the Golden Knights in Game 6. Hurricanes C Jordan Staal was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL playoff MVP. He became the oldest player to earn the distinction. The “horde of Hurricanes fans” at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas were alternating cheers: “Let’s go Canes!” and “Bus-si! Bus-si!” The cheers “only got louder,” turning to “We want the Cup!” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/14). A championship celebration is scheduled for Saturday at 11am in Downtown Raleigh. The Hurricanes said that more information “will be announced in the coming days” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/15).

Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon said on the ice after the game, “I’m so happy. The losing is so hard that you’ve got to enjoy it when you win” (WFMYNEWS2.com, 6/15). He added, “It’s more of a relief, right? I felt like we probably could have done this by now. Thankful that we did it now.” Dundon: “The big challenge is when you win … how do you stay hungry? I’m not actually that worried about it because (coach Rod Brind’Amour) doesn’t know any other way” (WRAL.com, 6/15).

The Knicks became Fanatics’ top-selling overall sports champion ever in the period following the first 24 hours after clinching their title. They passed the Eagles’ 2025 championship for the mark. The early surge has put the Knicks on pace to become the company’s top-selling overall sports champion ever, which would pass the Cubs’ World Series title team in 2016. Fanatics took in more than 8,000 orders per minute after the Knicks won Game 5 on Sunday to top the Spurs, setting a new company record. The Knicks more than doubled the sales of Fanatics’ previous top-selling NBA Finals champion, the Lakers in 2020 (Fanatics).

The Knicks are set to join Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” for a special episode airing Monday on NBC. G Jalen Brunson, C Karl-Anthony Towns, G Josh Hart, F OG Anunoby and G Mikal Bridges will be featured in interviews to discuss the championship run. The episode will also feature the entire Knicks team, including coach Mike Brown and the Knicks City Dancers (NBC Universal).

Ticket prices for Monday’s Iran-New Zealand clash in L.A. have surged to a get-in price of $487, up 64% over the past three days and up 74% over the past seven. SBJ has partnered with TicketData.com to track get-in price and trends for upcoming games. While that match has seen the largest increases of Monday’s matchups, get-in prices for Spain-Cabo Verde ($519) in Atlanta, Belgium-Egypt ($518) in Seattle and Saudi Arabia-Uruguay ($513) in Miami all remain higher-priced. For more information on additional games, visit the World Cup page at TicketData.com.

The Red Sox put on “Scotland Day” at Fenway Park, welcoming a “conservative estimate” of at least 5,000 fans taking part, though judging by eye, thousands more “made the trip” to watch the Red Sox-Rangers game. The event was held as the Scotland men’s soccer team plays “in its first World Cup in 28 years.” The Tartan Army, Scotland’s supporters organization, “led a fan march from Evans Way Park to the ballpark.” It was led by a cohort of people “playing bagpipes as they brought a touch of Scotland to this part of Boston.” Scenes from the ballpark included free shirts combining the Red Sox logo and the Scotland flag and Red Sox mascots wearing kilts (ESPN.com, 6/14).

The Scots, a “singing bunch,” belted out “Country Roads Take Me Home” before the game along with “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” from the TV show “Cheers.” That was followed by a “loud rendition of ‘Hey! Baby!’ before the first pitch.” The fans also “fully embraced ‘Sweet Caroline’ in the eighth inning, then ‘I’m Gonna Be’” by Scottish duo The Proclaimers (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/14).

The U.S. Open returns to Shinnecock Hills this week, and it will do so with a smaller capacity on site on Long Island than in recent years in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

The USGA is expecting around 155,000 fans on site this week, lower than the 200,000+ it saw at Oakmont Country Club and Pinehurst No. 2 in 2025 and 2024, respectively. And it’s by design with Shinnecock Hills’ remote location, and in an effort to ease travel concerns for attendees.

At Shinnecock Hills, a train stop is across the street from the golf course. Organizers have also added a dedicated shuttle bus lane to bring attendees to and from the club.

The USGA’s top-end hospitality offering, the 1895 Club, will return as part of the “Villages on 17.” Passes to 1895 featuring a five-day package (Wednesday through Sunday) can be had for $14,000, while daily passes cost between $3,200 and $4,000.

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This week is set to be one “jammed with three tectonic events that will shape the future” for all 138 FBS college football teams, and “perhaps, the entirety of collegiate athletics.” On Monday, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, conference execs and 15 university presidents will “consider potential sanctions” against Texas Tech if they allow QB Brendan Sorsby to play after betting on his own team. The CFP management committee will meet Wednesday in Denver to “discuss expansion and is expected to receive a critical update from the playoff’s media rights consultants on the potential value of a 24-team field.” On Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a markup of the Protect College Sports Act and, “in theory, consider changes proposed by the SEC and Big Ten” (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 6/14).

MOGL, an AI-powered athlete influencer marketing platform, is introducing a new feature, Athlete Paid Social, for brands to run campaigns directly on athlete social accounts, similar to programmatic media buying.

Founder Ayden Syal described Athlete Paid Social as “scaled influencer whitelisting” with brands benefitting from improved audience targeting through MOGL’s data platform.

A beta test of Athlete Paid Social with ProStyl Sports, a fitness training app, showed that its paid media campaign across Meta-owned apps had a 36-cent cost per click, compared to a $1.50 industry benchmark, and a click through rate of 2.46%, which is five times higher than the standard.

“The core value here is that they’re able to pair their ads with athlete authenticity, trust, credibility, and they’re getting significantly better dollar-for-dollar performance on every ad dollar spent,” Syal said. “We are enabling programmatic advertising through influencer channels with this, which doesn’t exist anywhere in the market today.”

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Fox Corp. and Roku have “entered a definitive agreement” for Fox to acquire Roku for $160 per share that values the streaming company at approximately $22B. Fox is acquiring Roku through a “combination of cash and Fox Class A common stock.” The transaction “combines Fox’s sports, news, and entertainment content and the Tubi streaming service with Roku’s connected TV platform, The Roku Channel, first-party data and direct relationship with more than 100 million global streaming households.” On a pro forma basis, the combined company “will become the third-largest player in U.S. television by share of viewing” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 6/15). The companies “expect the deal to close in the first half of calendar year 2027″ (VARIETY, 6/15).

As of 10am ET Monday morning, Fox Corp. Class A and Roku Inc. stock are both down in early trading (SBJ).

LightShed Partners co-founder Rich Greenfield said the Roku acquisition is a “really interesting strategic move by Fox.” Greenfield, appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said, “This is Lachlan Murdoch very definitively saying, ‘This is our future. We’re not going to go out and build a streaming service like everybody else and lose billions of dollars. We’re going to go out and buy the streaming gatekeeper where everybody else needs access to.’” Greenfield noted Roku is the “largest player in streaming what we call the TV operating system,” so Fox is “basically acquiring the leading player.” He added, “Anybody who wants to have a streaming service has to play ball with Roku and it’s given their distribution. As we’ve seen, it’s very hard to not do a deal with Roku.” Greenfield said there also is a “boost that this will give” to the Fox One streaming service (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 6/15).

What’s on Ray Katz’s mind? CSMG’s co-founder and President of Business Intelligence & Media shares why media is not just a marketing expense but a fundamental component of a healthy business ecosystem.

In this week’s issue:

• Candice Storey Lee made moves that took Vanderbilt from willing participant in the SEC to serious competitor. Ben Portnoy profiles SBJ’s Athletic Director of the Year honoree.
• With the U.S. Open set for Shinnecock Hills, SBJ’s Josh Carpenter looks at how both the USGA and its media partners are approaching the course and getting the most of its smaller footprint.
• Our coverage of the FIFA World Cup continues with stories from SBJ’s Irving Mejia-Hilario and Alex Silverman on how MLS clubs are aiming for a business bump from the event,  while SBJ’s Bret McCormick reveals how the Caribbean nation of Curaçao is leveraging its first World Cup appearance.
• SBJ’s Rachel Axon breaks down the world of opportunities brands have around the LA28 Olympics. It’s a daunting, yet potentially rewarding, menu of options.
• SBJ’s Juwan Watson and Jesse Gordon round up the words of wisdom that sports figures passed along to college graduates at this year’s commencement ceremonies.
• Spencer Jones last week hit his first home run in the majors after being called up by the Yankees. SBJ’s Tom Friend looks back at when Jones was hitting dingers for the Little League team he coached in California.

“Big Ben has been purposely silenced in honor of a person on only 2 occasions: the funerals of these 2 non-royals, 48 years apart.”