(L-R) Zac Brown, Jimmy De Martini, and John Driskell Hopkins of Zac Brown Band Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for TNT Sports The UFC is adding some serious star power to its upcoming mega event, which will be held in Washington, D.C., in June and culminate with the White House event on June 14.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the Zac Brown Band will headline what the MMA promotion is calling the UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest on Saturday, June 13. The Fan Fest will be held on The Ellipse in Washington, D.C., just south of the White House on both the 13th and 14th.
Zac Brown Band has been on a tear in recent months, coming off an eight-night run at the Sphere in Las Vegas and the release of their Love & Fear album in December. The country rock group was also among the headliners at a March Madness music festival last month, which also sat at the intersection of music and sports.
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In addition to live music, the free event (interested attendees can register to try and get tickets) will feature ceremonial weigh-ins, meet and greets, on-stage entertainment, interactive experiences, and appearances from UFC athletes and other celebrities. On Sunday, it will also include a live watch party of the fights being held on the South Lawn of the White House nearby.
President Trump first revealed plans to host a UFC fight at the White House last summer, though the specific details have taken months to iron out. UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings is footing the bill for the event, and told investors in February that it may lose $30 million on it, even after offsetting costs through sponsorships (the fan fest, for example, is “fueled by Monster Energy”)
“I wanna be clear about something: We will not profit from the White House event independently. We will not be making money on America’s 250th anniversary,” TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro said at the time. “This is an investment for the long term. This is about earned media.
“This is about sampling, new fans, casual viewers, a spectacle on a stage that will ultimately expand our audience, our viewership, and our success on Paramount+,” he added. “We see this once-in-a-lifetime stage as a strategic investment to drive subscriber acquisition at Paramount+, massive audience sampling for the UFC overall, and Super Bowl-like earned media across the globe.”
UFC CEO Dana White is close to President Trump, and last month the mixed martial arts promotion signed on to train FBI agents at an event held in Quantico.
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