Designing Sport digital economy development model in Iran

The purpose of this study was to design a model for the development of sport digital economy in Iran. This research was a qualitative research in terms of data collection method, which was conducted by grounded theory method and systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin, and a semi-structured qualitative interview was used to collect data. The statistical population of the study included the scientific and executive elites who had experience in the fields of economics, technology, IT, e-commerce, digital businesses and digital economy and a total of 21 interviews were conducted. For data analysis, three stages of open, axial and selective coding were used as 140 open codes were obtained and in five categories of causal conditions, contextual, intervening, strategies and consequences of digital economy development in sports were classified. The development of access to computers and the Internet, the commercialization of sports, the growth of e-commerce and digital technologies were among the drivers of the development of the digital economy in sports. Due to the fact that today the market environment has changed from its traditional form to digitalization, therefore, organizations, federations and sports clubs and sports-related jobs must adapt to these changes and design their strategy for digitizing their processes, services, and activities.