Dubai: Sports Playground for the Ultra-Rich

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, July 14, 2007 — -- The world's richest horse race ended 90 minutes ago, with 2006 Breeder's Cup champ Invasor charging down the stretch to win the $6 million Dubai World Cup. Now, as the clock edges past 11 p.m. and the gates close at Nad Al Sheba racetrack, the world's richest taxi line begins.

In addition to paying out $21.2 million for seven races, the World Cup is the social event of the season in Dubai, where the rich and beautiful go to see and be seen. With a prize of $5,000 and a trip to Thailand awarded to the best-dressed woman, it's where the Daily Racing Form meets Oscar night's red carpet. Hundreds of women from all over the world -- Dubai, Lebanon, England, Turkey, Ukraine, Asia, America -- have been on parade outside the track all afternoon and evening, providing new definition to the term "racing silks." Elegant, formfitting dresses display beautifully tanned legs and accentuate every curve of the body. Necklines plunge low to reveal lace-trimmed satin bras. Wide-brimmed hats are outrageously topped with enough exotic feathers, flowers and ribbons to shame an Ice Capades skater. The men, meanwhile, sport pin-striped tuxedos and morning coats, suits, sport coats, kilts and top hats as they suck on water pipes called hookahs and mix among Arabs in flowing white robes.

Many of the non-Muslim expats are now also drunk ... or, at least, nicely buzzed. This is the prophet Muhammad's birthday, and out of respect, the sale of alcohol has been banned throughout the country for most of the day. But not here at Nad Al Sheba. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, rules Dubai, and horses are his passion, the World Cup his baby. So race day goes on as usual, and bartenders have been serving $120-$500 bottles of champagne at the Bubble Lounge and more reasonably priced cups of Guinness for $10 in the Irish Village since early afternoon.

And now these beautiful people need a ride home.

The line for taxis is two to six people thick and snakes around the parking lot for at least half a furlong. That would be bad enough, but the taxis are appearing, at most, two or three a minute. The people at the end of the line are going to be here a very, very long time.

Fortunately, I have hitched a seat on the van ferrying the ABC television crew back to its hotel. And as we crawl out of the parking lot, desperate men and women race up to the van, tripping in high heels and waving at the windows, begging us to let them on. It's like the last chopper out of Saigon, only with more feathers and bigger cup sizes.

There is no room available, not that anyone is in the mood to let anyone else on, anyway. "Don't stop! Keep going!" we howl. "Don't look them in the eyes!!!" someone shouts at the driver.

We pull out of the parking lot and onto the main road leading back to the city center. There is a sleek convertible ahead of us, with a man and a woman in the front seat and another man squeezed into the backseat.

Wait. "There's another woman in the backseat," someone yells from the front of the van. "If you know what I mean."

I can't see from my seat, but I think I get the picture. And all this is taking place, mind you, in a country where there's no betting on horse races and where public intoxication or excessive public affection can earn you a jail sentence; a country bordering Saudi Arabia, 100 miles across the Persian Gulf from Iran and down the Gulf from Iraq.

A country that wants to host the Olympics.

So the next time you see a report about suicide bombers blowing up markets in Iraq, or Israel shelling Lebanon, or Iran's president talking about the destruction of Israel, or Dick Cheney issuing warnings from the deck of an aircraft carrier, or any other news from the many violent clashes over religion, culture, geography or oil in this part of the world, you should bear this in mind: Part of this same neighborhood considers sports more important to its future than oil. Far from damning and shunning the West, Dubai would very much like you to visit and watch a horse race, golf 18 holes, play some tennis or even ski. Rather than fight over fundamentalist Muslim, Christian or Jewish beliefs, Dubai is partly betting its future on the new world religion of sports.

That might not provide much reassurance or hope amid the turmoil, but at least it's something.

Dubai is the second richest -- behind Abu Dhabi -- of the seven emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates that stretch along a narrow crescent between Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. It has surprisingly little oil, though. So little, in fact, that production made up only 6 percent of Dubai's gross national product last year, a figure that will continue to decline until the oil wells run dry within a decade. Dubai relies instead on free trade, heavy corporate investment -- it has no taxes (a prime draw for Halliburton's move here) -- and tourism.

This is where sports fit into the overall vision for Dubai as seen by Sheikh Mohammed.

According to Rashid Al Kamali of the Dubai Sports Council, "the goal is to use sport as a platform to attract global exposure for Dubai." It already has. Television cameras bring Dubai into living rooms around the world via the annual Desert Classic golf tournament (you probably saw Tiger Woods teeing off against the city skyline in February), the Dubai Duty Free tennis tournament (maybe you saw Andre Agassi and Roger Federer playing on the helipad atop the 1,000-foot high Burj Al Arab hotel) and, of course, the World Cup horse race.

And that's just the beginning.

Construction of the first Tiger Woods golf course -- Al Ruwaya -- is under way here, with plans including 300 luxury villas, 20 mansions, an 80-room boutique hotel and a shopping area. Cricket is moving its ICC world headquarters here. Manchester United will open a soccer academy here. Sheikh Mohammed and the royal family just announced plans for Meydan, a 67-million-square-foot horse track and development with the hope of one day landing the Breeder's Cup. Rising from the sands southwest of Dubai already is Dubai Sports City, a $3.5 billion, 50-million-square-foot housing, recreation and entertainment development that will one day be home to 65,000 sports fans. "This will give you a chance to live sports," says Dubai Sports City chief executive U. Balasubramaniam.

Live it? The only thing missing from the Dubai Sports City blueprint is a "SportsCenter" studio. The Ernie Els golf course that winds among the luxury villas, townhomes, hotels and a shopping mall will open in the fall. ManU's soccer academy will compete for students with a Butch Harmon golf school and a David Lloyd Tennis Academy. There will be a cricket stadium, a 10,000-seat tennis and ice hockey arena (yes, ice hockey) and a 60,000-seat main stadium. Naturally, you'll have to pay to use or attend those facilities, but you will avoid the bane of all fans -- postgame traffic.

"That shows the difference in the vision here," Balasubramaniam says. "We thought we'd go ahead with a 30,000-, 35,000-seat stadium. His Highness said: 'What are you talking about? Thirty thousand is nothing. Sixty thousand is what we need.' "