This study, which is a strategic study with a mixed research approach aimed to identify obstacles facing the academies of Iranian Basketball Federation. The population comprises board of directors and committees responsible for Education and Talent Spotting Association, academy administrators, physical education instructors, qualified experts, professors, coaches, referees and heads of delegations who were asked via interviews and questionnaire (exploratory manner) to state internal and external obstacles facing basketball academies in following 8 components in order of importance utilizing the Delphi method: management and planning, training, human resources, financial resources, talent spotting, scientific and research and information technology, venues and infrastructures. Items were identified in 34 external and 49 internal factors. For weighting and prioritizing of items, the questionnaire was completed by 27 subjects employing AHP method based on pairwise comparisons. SPSS software version18 was utilized for descriptive statistics while AHP method in Expert Choice software was utilized for inferential statistics. At the end, a total of 11 executive strategies were proposed for removing the obstacles.

Background. Currently, sports as a big industry is considered as one of the most effective economic sources in developed communities and one of the important indices of the development of countries. Objectives. The present study was conducted aimed to design a strategic model of Iran's sports industry economy. Methods. This study is a strategic one that has been conducted by mixed sequential exploratory method. Also, the main research method was based on quad triangulation. The statistical population of the study including stakeholders and experts in economy of sports and professors of physical education who are fully acquainted with sports and related industries was a total of n = 226 participated in the study purposefully and accessible. The data were collected through library studies, review of documents and documents, review of scientific and specialized articles, review of archives of publications and media, interviews, open and closed questionnaires, as well as Delphi method. Then, the models obtained from Likert scale questionnaires were approved in three shifts between 100 selected first group samples with a return of between 53 and 67 responses at each stage. Structural equation modeling was used by software PLS 3 to confirm the results. SWOT analysis was used to develop the strategies. Results. The factors affecting the economy of Iran's sports industry were identified and confirmed in the form of 11 strengths, 14 opportunities, 26 weaknesses and 24 threats. Then, by reviewing and analyzing the factor load, 25 appropriate executive strategies were developed and presented. Conclusion.According to the results, sports industry trustees, by forming a team of experts, put the proposed strategies of this study on the agenda, formulate the necessary executive plans, and then apply the necessary measures to implement the plan. The achievements of this study, using micro and macroeconomic planning can be the key to the non-growth of GDP of Iran and similar countries.