This must be one of Ernie jokes, how could you choose Azerbaijan over playing in New Zealand, Australia?
I love the Caucasus - the food is great, the wine is great, the mountains are great, the culture is amazing. You've got these ski fields with new Doppelmeyer lifts but no one actually goes there because its too expensive for the locals and too out of the way for foreigners. (Sometimes there are competing lift companies older soviet ones and newer doppelmeyer running side by side so there is price competition within the same field).
Don't dismiss what it offers out of hand.