Championship charges

Championship charges

There’s no denying watching sports can be costly in the UAE; Kipp wants to know how our readers make it through the season?

November 4, 2010 2:34 by Eva Fernandes

It should come as no surprise that the UAE, the host of a good variety of sporting events, is also the home of many sports enthusiasts (the country’s first ever sports newspaper, Sports 360, was just launched, after all). When Kipp asked our readers to tell us their favorite UAE sporting event, it was no surprise that we got a keen response. Our findings? Kipp readers’ sporting preferences are spread fairly evenly. The majority of our readers (29 percent) said they preferred the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; 23 percent went with the Dubai World Cup and 21 percent selected the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Kipp was a little surprised to find that the Dubai Rugby Sevens got only 17 percent of the vote, but not too surprised that Dubai Desert Classic got only 10 percent of the votes (golf, seriously?).

When we thought about it, Kipp realized the UAE hosts a respectable number of sporting events – and although we know die-hard sports fans would no doubt love to indulge in every chance to see some top-level competition, there is no denying these events are an expensive business.

Doing a rough search on Time Out Dubai we worked out how much you will be set back if you decided to go to each of these events:

Grand Prix Dh2,000
Rugby Sevens Dh300 (entry charge)
Dubai Tennis Championships (depending on the match) Dhs30 to Dhs200
Dubai World Cup (tickets from Dh350 to as high as Dh3,000 – not to mention an additional 250 for the concert)
Dubai Desert Classic Dh 75 (daily) and Dh675 (season)

So if you decided to attend each of these events in all their splendor (assuming you are able to get your hands on tickets), the damage could be as high as Dh6,175 per person. And that is not even counting the moolah you dish out for food, taxi and merchandise (granted some of these events come inclusive of food and beverages). Is it worth it? After all, Dh6,175 could buy a pretty nice holiday somewhere.

Kipp’s curious to know how many of our readers attend these events. And if you do, what’s your advice for enjoying sports without breaking the bank?