Mixing business with sports

Abdul Rehman Falaknaz, founder of Emirates Sports Store, talks about the sports goods industry in Dubai and the investment and revenue structure of Dubai Sports City.

Gulf News: Dubai has grown as a global destination for sports. Has the business related to sports grown in tandem?
Falaknaz: Certainly - growth of sports good market in Dubai and the UAE is to the tune of 10 per cent per annum.

It is set to grow further with the rise in the awareness of sports and enthusiasm towards it expanding the customer base.

The factors that are driving the market growth include the well established destination of Dubai as an international sports destination, increase in population and the expansion in regional sports market with Dubai benefiting as a major re-export hub of sports goods.

What are the trends in the local sports goods market?
The most significant change in the sports goods market is that international companies are now keen to have their direct presence here rather than through a local representative.

This is bound to drive alliances and joint efforts at expanding the market. Dubai has a reputation as an emerging market gateway for sports goods in the Middle East and North Africa region and such trends in the local market is reflected in the increasing presence of global sports companies in Dubai.

At our end, we are also looking at expanding Emirates Sports Store through global alliances and to cater to the demand of an increasing market in the GCC.

When will the project be completed and what is the structure of the investment?
Dubai Sports City will be fully completed by 2010, but some of the sports components of the project will be ready much before.

For instance, the cricket stadium will be ready by April this year. The total investments from the promoters in the project is $3.5 billion while the total investment in the project will be to the tune of $8 billion taking into account investment by our developer partners in the realty side of project.

Dubai Sports City is the world's first largest private sector sports project sprawling across 50 million square feet.

A major share of our investment is in the sports component of the project, which is to the tune of $1 billion, while we are spending close to another Dh1 billion on infrastructure alone.

What is the revenue model of Dubai Sports City?
We were allowed to conceive this project with a significant real estate component to it, which will support the development of the sports component.

Of course, there will be revenue flows from the membership to golf clubs from the various sports academies etc.