Introduction: Artificial intelligence has affected all industries and the present and future of the sports industry has also been affected by this new phenomenon and in this regard, the present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of artificial intelligence in the future of the Iranian sports industry.

Methods: This is an applied, survey and qualitative research based on thematic analysis method with Atride-Stirling approach. The research participants were 17 specialists and experts in the fields of industrial management, business economics, artificial intelligence, computer science and sports management professors who were selected purposefully and according to the principle of theoretical saturation. The research tool was semi-structured interview. In order to analyze the data, the theme analysis method was used with Atride-Sterling (2001) approach.

Results: The results showed that the key factors affecting the role of artificial intelligence in the future of Iran's sports industry include 8 themes of technology acceptance, political factors, economic factors, inhibiting factors, social factors, infrastructural factors, educational factors, and managerial factors. The research results also showed that the role of artificial intelligence in the Iranian sports industry was identified in two ways: a constructive role and a destructive role.

Conclusion: Relevant officials and managers should pay special attention to the factors identified in this study so that they can benefit from the constructive role of artificial intelligence in the future of the sports industry and be safe from its destructive role.