[QUOTE="Kyng,  post: 20556, member: 410"]
Yeah, prestige is a *lot* of the reason for this, IMO. But also the fact that their oil revenues aren't going to last them forever - and they need some other way to make money once the oil runs out!
[/QUOTE]

Middle east has been focusing a lot on sports recently. However, countries like UAE has focused a lot in promoting global sporting events. This is why you will see major sporting events being held in cities like Dubai. Cricket is played a lot in UAE. UAE is one of the fewest countries in the middle east that has its own cricket team.