Identifying the Internal Factors and Challenges in Branding of Iran Basketball League

Abstract

Background. The clubs of the premier league and the basketball federation need to attract and retain fans and sponsors in order to earn financial revenues, through the proper model of branding, to be of interest to the media and customers. Objectives. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the internal factors and challenges in the branding of the Iranian basketball league. Methods. This research based on purpose is practical and based on field research is a qualitative research type. The statistical population of this study consisted of knowledgeable experts in the field of brand and basketball sport. Based on snowball sampling method, to the extent of reaching the theoretical saturation, 19 individuals were selected as a statistical sample. In this study, the data collection tool was a qualitative interview. Grounded theory was used to collect and analyze data. Results. Totally 89 tokens were identified in the open source coding process, that in the first stage, coding was classified into 11 classes in terms of subject and concept closeness. Also, results showed that the factors and challenges of the branding in Iranian Basketball League were three main factors, such as the philosophy and nature of basketball and the nature of sport. Conclusion. Based on our results, identification of the internal branding factors and challenges of the Iranian Basketball League was recognized and the proposed model was presented based on identified cases at three levels of operational, intermediate and strategic.