Identifying Effective Drivers in the Future of Sports Businesses in Khorasan Razavi Province Mohammad Ali Sahebkaran 1 | Jafar Khoshbakhti 2 | Raheleh Kariminejad 3 1. Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor of Sports Management, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. Email: msahebkaran@birjand.ac.ir 2. Associate Professor of Sports Management, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. Email: jkhoshbakhti@birjand.ac.ir 3. M.Sc. of Sport Management, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. Email: karimira69@gmail.com Introduction Sport is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide and is the dominant and defining force in the lives of millions of people around the world (Kurtzman, 2005). In recent years, sports businesses have grown significantly and gained economic importance (Gaffney, 2010; Smith & Stewart, 2010; Tichaawa & Swart, 2010). Among businesses, sports businesses have become very important in How to Cite: Sahebkaran, M, A., Khoshbakhti, J., Kariminejad, R. (2022). Identifying Effective Drivers in the Future of Sports Businesses in Khorasan Razavi Province. Journal of New Studies in Sport Management, 3(3), 509 -520. DOI: 10.22103/JNSSM.2022.19113.1067 © The Author(s). Publisher: Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman DOI: 10.22103/JNSSM.2022.19113.1067 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to identify effective drivers in the future of sports businesses in Khorasan Razavi province. The participants included experts in management, marketing and sports businesses. The interviews were conducted by snowball method and continued until the theoretical consensus, and finally after 18 interviews we reached the theoretical consensus. For statistical analysis SPSS software and Mick Mac software were used. The results of cross-impact analysis based on MDI and MII matrices showed that supportive drivers, marketing drivers, as well as drivers of creativity and innovation play an important role in improving system relationships. In addition, the three groups of propellants having the highest and the least impact included economic divers (educational divers), and customer-oriented divers respectively. On the other hand, propellants such as; Cultural drivers, communication drivers, and managerial drivers are more influenced than being influential. Finally, it was the propulsion of manpower that lacks a key and important role in the formation of sports businesses in Khorasan Razavi province, but they should not be forgotten completely. It is suggested that in order to develop more sports businesses in Khorasan Razavi province, these items should be on the agenda to achieve a bright future in sports in the province. ARTICLE INFO Article type: Original article Article history: Received: 2 March 2022 Received in revised form: 13 May 2022 Accepted: 16 May 2022 Publish online: 10 September 2022 Keywords: Business Futurology Khorasan Razavi Propulsion Sports