احمد محمودی

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, paying attention to the significance of football stadiums as important urban facilities and applying the principles of passive defense in them are among critical areas in the field of urban management. Given that, the primary goal of the present research is to investigate the pathology of football stadiums with an emphasis on passive defense. METHODS: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of the research approach. Data collection was accomplished through documentary and field studies. In the documentary domain, information and data were gathered from the website of sports complexes, publications, and brochures. Regarding the field domain, spatial data related to the city of Mashhad were collected from the database and field studies in the form of observations and interviews with stadium officials. The target stadiums in the present study are Takhti and Imam Reza stadiums, which were studied based on two main criteria of design and location selection based on the principles of passive defense. After specifying the indicators, Arc GIS software was used to perform data analysis and spatial analysis operations. FINDINGS: The research findings indicate that the most significant weaknesses of Takhti Stadium are the lack of access to first and secondary arterial roads, the presence of intersections and heavy traffic near the stadium, inadequate open space and parking lots, and lack of automatic fire suppression systems. The drawbacks of Imam Reza Stadium include the absence of shelter, no access to the subway stations, no direct access to primary arterial roads, and the absence of entrance and exit passageways in the stadium. CONCLUSION: The results indicate the fact that paying attention to the indicators and criteria of passive defense can extensively conserve and maintain sports facilities at times of crisis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the situation of football refereeing in Iran using the SOAR framework. The method of the present study was descriptive-analytical with an applied nature. The SOAR analytical technique was used to collect information from interviews and form focus groups, formulate a development strategy and explain the strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and measurable results. The study's statistical population included all national and international football referees in the country, and the sample was purposefully selected (n=151). The research instrument was based on an exploratory study and rewriting of basics, interviews, and similar studies by the researcher, whose content validity was confirmed by experts, and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (α=0.89). The results showed that the existence of many interested in football refereeing, the great interest of Iranian youth in football refereeing, the establishment of national and international refereeing courses, and the emergence of Iranian referees in the first place in Asia, respectively the most critical priorities in terms of strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results. According to the findings, to improve refereeing at the global level, it is necessary to formulate a strategic plan based on the brand-based model that can align all the potentials in the country with its overall refereeing goal.

Sports tourism is one of the most attractive types of tourism that occurs in different regions and countries. This  tourism type is effective in economic fields and extremely significant in cultural and sportsmanship contexts.  To this end, the current research aimed to identify and explain the effective components of sport tourism in the  sublimity of culture and sportsmanship, conducted through a mixed method. This research approach was  sequential exploratory in two qualitative-quantitative phases, in which “thematic analysis” and “survey”  methods were used, respectively. The first phase’s statistical population included experts in sport tourism, sport  management, culture management, and sportsmanship, with 14 individuals participating in semi-structured  interviews using a purposive sampling method. After determining the effective actors in this field, 32 experts  responded to questionnaires using a systematic sampling method in the study’s second phase. According to the  research findings of the first phase, the themes extracted from the semi-structured interviews comprised 39  fundamental themes, 15 organizing themes, and four global themes. Per the second phase of the study’s  findings, all themes were approved by the experts, all determinants of the role of sport tourism in the sublimity  of sports culture and sportsmanship. As a result, sports tourism, while creating macroeconomic benefits for  residents and visitors, significantly contributes to the sublimity of sports culture and sportsmanship, where this  category can strengthen the value and ethical attitudes in addition to creating recreational experiences

Small and medium industries are considered as the critical platforms for entrepreneurship growth. Examining and identifying initiatives for developing small and medium-sized sports businesses in Iran can greatly contribute to the progress of this field. Therefore, this research aims to identify the initiatives for the prosperity of small and medium sports businesses in Iran. This study is a qualitative and exploratory research. The participants included faculty members in sports management, marketing, and managers and other sports experts interviewed through a purposeful sampling approach. To collect data, in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted and finally theoretical saturation was achieved with 25 interviews. To analyze the data, the thematic analysis method was used. The results show that the initiatives for developing small and medium-sized sports businesses in Iran consist of five main categories, including “economic measures, communication-information initiatives, practical training, support structure, and internal organizational policies”. Finally, according to the initiatives for the prosperity of small and medium sports businesses, it might be necessary to implement the necessary measures and appropriate programs in this field to deal with the situation efficiently.