Sport clubs

The purpose of the present study was to identify barriers to implementing innovation in sports clubs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research approach was mixed. In the qualitative part, interviews with 13 owners of sports clubs were conducted. The statistical sample in the quantitative part, based on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), included 200 sports club owners in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran. The results showed that barriers to implementing innovation in sports clubs were individual, structural, and environmental obstacles. Considering the entrepreneurial ecosystem and all stakeholders involved in the sports community, providing favorable conditions such as intellectual property protection, financial support, research, and development support, as well as improving access to financial capital, can pave the way for the creation and implementation of sports innovations in clubs, especially in crises. 

This study aimed to investigate the resilience of sports clubs as business enterprises in the crisis caused by the Coronavirus epidemic. Thirty-five experts in the field of sports club management were interviewed in three rounds of interviewing. In the first round, the main questions for the interview was determined, and then two series of interviews were carried out with experts. Basis of the analysis in the second one was content analysis approache. A summary of the answers given to the sample and interviewing were conducted again. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and one-sample t-tests were used to measure the resilience. In the next study section, the propulsive forces identified with the Delphi technique and prioritized based on the degree of importance and uncertainty, and Micmac was used to write possible scenarios. Results indicated that resilience of sports clubs was not in a good condition in the presence of crises and challenges. The findings showed that poor management of sports clubs and low income were the most influential critical factors in resilience. A low partnership index with a total of 201619 had the highest impact. Organizations that responded quickly and actively and were user-friendly under adverse economic conditions were more likely to succeed.