The quest to curry favor with President Trump means flushing a whole bunch of money down the toilet, that’s what both the UFC and Enhanced Games learned after reports emerged of how much money they wasted on events at the behest of the president and his family.
UFC Freedom 250 at the White House this summer resulted in a loss of $30M for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. This was largely due to the above-average costs of production to set up the octagon, lighting, and infrastructure for the fights which were invite-only, meaning the UFC was unable to recoup any revenue from ticket sales. As a result, executives of TKO (UFC’s parent company) revised their 2026 Q2 profit margin to 52%, down from 59% — though the company called the event a success due to “Earned Media Value,” which they said was worth $1 billion. Earned Media Value is a made-up figure designed to justify an event in terms of brand exposure and future unrealized earnings that will come directly from holding an event. It’s unclear precisely how TKO valued the worth of the White House fight at $1B, or how holding the show at the White House will convert nontraditional viewers into UFC fans.
Shares in Enhanced Group opened at $7.89 in May, then tumbled 44% following the games, and are now trading at $1.64, a 77% drop in value. Their CEO is claiming “this is only the beginning,” which could be true — but it’s unclear how the company can turn things around while trying to sell a sporting product nobody cares about.
Sometimes losing money isn’t enough, and it’s here that Gianni Infantino steps in. The FIFA President is currently undergoing a leadership challenge as nations continue to call for him to resign after it was revealed that Infantino formulated a plan to sell stock in the World Cup to the family of Jared Kusher, President Trump’s son in law.
Of course, if you take big risks you’re bound to suffer some losses as a result — that’s the nature of business. At the end of the day what’s $90M compared to losing over $40B in the war on Iran?
