KEY POINTS:
On Monday the announcement of a new addition to the European Tour is expected. Not just another golf tournament, but one that Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and all the world's top players will not want to miss - the richest in the world. The prize fund is expected
to be US$20 million and appearance money about as much again.
But the backers can afford it, just as they can afford all the billions of dollars they pump into racing, football, cricket, tennis, rugby sevens, motor sport, athletics and even yacht racing. The six Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have, after all, done rather well out of the recent oil boom.
In the past four years they have made US$1.5 trillion - that's US$1,500,000,000,000 - and they have to spend it on something other than hotels and luxury holiday homes. That something is, increasingly often, sport.
For Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, sport forms part of a multibillion-dollar charm offensive. Through sport, he reasons, he can improve the region's image, drive tourism and alleviate its economic dependency on oil and natural gas. In the Gulf, oil money is being used to build a sporting and commercial hub, positioned between the old economies of Europe and the nascent promise of India and China.
This year's America's Cup bid by Team New Zealand was backed by the Dubai-based airline, Emirates.
Horse racing has long been a passion, especially of Sheikh Mohammed. The Dubai World Cup meeting has been held annually since 1996 and prize money has grown from US$5 million in the inaugural race to US$22 million this year.
"Unless I am 100 per cent sure about an idea, I will not implement it," Sheikh Mohammed once said. "Once I am convinced, I do not hesitate." So, once he had convinced himself about the need for a new venue for his showcase event he signed off a $1.3 billion contract, and by 2010, the meeting will have a new home: the Dubai Maydan racecourse, which will set a new standard in luxury for racegoers.
Motorsport has been quick to take the oil dollars on offer. Bahrain has held a grand prix since 2004 and Dubai money is behind the new A1GP series, an alternative to Formula One. Abu Dhabi, which has the greatest oil reserves in the Gulf, is due to host its first F1 grand prix in 2009.
This was facilitated by the Government's purchase of a 5 per cent stake in Ferrari. The race will take place on an island in the shadow of a new Ferrari theme park.
Cricket's links to the region are strong. Remarkably, Sharjah holds the record for staging the most one-day internationals in a single venue. In 2005 the ICC moved from Lord's to take up residence in Dubai's Sports City.
A new ground is being built to house the ICC Academy, which will be run by Australia cricket star Rod Marsh.
Recently, Manchester United were paid $50 million to set up a soccer skills academy in Dubai. "There is growing evidence of a joined-up approach to the huge infrastructural investment being made across the region," says Michael Pask, senior vice-president of IMG, the sports marketing group. "The ruling families have grasped the opportunity to use sport to change elements of people's lives on a scale we have not seen before. This is new territory."
Qatar, with a population of fewer than a million, illustrates the unbounded ambition of the Gulf's rulers. They raised the state's sporting profile by setting up the Qatar Football League, the Q-League, which is most notable for luring fading big-name internationals with mind-blowing financial incentives. In 2004, Argentina World Cup star Gabriel Batistuta signed a two-year deal worth a reported $9.6 million to play for Al Arabi in the new league.
The state-owned Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has paid to stage, from 2008-10, the end-of-season women's tennis championship, currently being played in Madrid. Emboldened by their staging in Doha, the capital, of the 2006 Asian Games, the world's second largest multi-sport event, they are now bidding for the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 2010, and will stage football's Asia Cup in 2011.
And then - the big one. Doha has just announced its intention to bid for the Olympic Games in 2016, placing it in competition with some of the iconic world cities such as Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.
Qatar has already reaped rewards in athletics by using its wealth to persuade many Kenyan athletes to accept so-called "passports of convenience" and compete for them. Middle-distance runner Stephen Cherono started the trend in 2003 when he swapped his Kenyan passport for Qatari citizenship and took on a new name, Saif Saaeed Shaheen - for a reported salary of $1000 a month for life. Qatar's commitment to buying success in sport was first made clear when seven Bulgarian weightlifters defected to the Gulf state in 1999. Kenyan athletics officials say Qatar promised to build a stadium in Eldoret in exchange for runners switching nationality, but complain it has never happened.
Meanwhile, back in Dubai, the businessmen may make impressive noises but one native Qatari commented: "There is a disconnection between the ambitions of the Government and the interest of the working people. The best moments happen around the cricket because this is attended by the expat Indian and Pakistani communities, who are fanatical in stark contrast to the native population who couldn't give a toss."
There are other problems. Summer temperatures routinely go beyond 50C, meaning Qatar's Olympic bid hangs on the premise that the Games be shifted to October.
The vast building plans have placed an enormous burden on infrastructure. The new Dubai airport will be the size of the capital of Wales, Cardiff. Pollution and traffic gridlock are a common complaint of those who live in the area. Questions remain as to the appetite for sport on the part of the indigenous populations: a regular feature of Asian Games coverage from Doha was the backdrop of empty seats.
How can you create the hunger required to be a top sports star, asks one expat in Dubai, in a country where workers pay no income tax and which has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world?
By chasing petrodollars, governing bodies such as the European Tour have created a new world map. The wealth of Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain has skewed the forces of supply and demand. "Build it and they will come" has been the driving philosophy. It is a plan that seems to be working.
- Observer
Putting Gulf on world stage
* Golf: Abu Dhabi ChampionshipQatar MastersDubai Desert Classic
* Tennis: Qatar Open (men, women)Dubai Championships (men, women)WTA Tour Championships (2008-2010)
* Horse racing: Dubai World Cup
* Motorsport: Bahrain GPQatar Moto GPAbu Dhabi GP (from 2009)
* Athletics: IAAF Super Grand Prix, Doha
* Soccer: 2011 AFC Asian Cup (Qatar)Qatar Q-League
* Rugby Union: Dubai Sevens
