A fascinating event was staged in Dubai this week, entitled the Emerging Host Cities Summit.

The idea? A “how-to” for cities to bid for major sports events. Officials from recent and future World Cups and Olympics were in Dubai, giving talks about how to put together a bid and how to win it.

That this happened in Dubai was no accident, because Dubai is thinking hard about bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The National got this exclusively, at the Summit, from one of the top officials in the UAE National Olympic Committee.

Some strong language in there. “The UAE has the infrastructure, capability, manpower and know-how to host such events. There is pressure on cities when they host huge events like the Olympics, but Dubai and the UAE can take it.”

And, “I can assure you that our bid will be a comprehensive and winning bid.”

Plenty of people will dismiss this out of hand, some of them here in the UAE. Outsiders can be forgiven for thinking it won’t happen; people who live here should know better, however.

FIFA a year ago gave the 2022 World Cup to Qatar and the 2018 World Cup to Russia. The IOC gave Rio de Janeiro the 2016 Olympics. The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia.

One of the people at the conference, Danny Jordaan, who led the organizing group for the 2010 World Cup, said this is the era for emerging cities to be granted the right for big events. That means Asia and South America, in particular.

It’s not just the old European/American network anymore. (And nothing is going to the U.S. for a long time. Anti-America sentiment remains high in the IOC and FIFA, both.)

Dubai is an ambitious place, eager to be considered in the company of the world’s great cities, with lots of foreign expertise, a tourist destination, easy to reach for anyone in the eastern hemisphere … and I have zero doubt they could pull this off.

Quite a bit of infrastructure already is in place, and a plan for an ambitious Dubai Sports City is coming along.

The immediate concern is weather, and the traditional July-August Olympics is probably impossible here. They could put a dome over the big stadium, but events like rowing and sailing would triathlon would have to be outside, and it’s just too hot in the UAE then.

It is fair to assume they would back up a 2024 Games to at least October. Maybe even November.

But this could happen. It absolutely could. If Dubai goes after this hard, they have a good chance of winning, and we at The National will be paying close attention.