Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Women's sports expert of the General Department of Sports and Youth of Kerman province
2 university of kurdistan
Abstract
The purpose of the current research was to identify and prioritize the structural challenges of attracting and maintaining sponsors in niche professional sports in Iran. The research method was qualitative and quantitative (mixed) and in the form of thematic analysis, and the statistical population included experts in the field of sports (presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries and marketing managers of federations and managers and deputy ministers). The sampling method was purposeful and in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 participants until theoretical saturation. In order to analyze the data, coding technique and Nvivo software were used. After identifying the challenges, with the aim of ranking them, an AHP questionnaire was designed and provided to 16 experts in the sports and marketing industry. Results showed that structural challenges to attract financial sponsors in niche professional sports in 10 themes and structural challenges to maintain financial sponsors in professional niche sports were identified in 8 themes and prioritized by AHP method. Finally, according to the obtained results, managers are suggested to pay attention to its long-term consequences for the organization when making decisions in the field of marketing, especially the attraction and retention of financial sponsors. Decisions that are made consciously and carefully can bring people together to achieve common organizational goals.
Keywords