Media has an undeniable role in shaping and directing beliefs, attitudes and thoughts of society and also in creating a suitable ground in sport. The aim of this study was to examine the effective factors of sport media in development of athletic sport. The research methodology was descriptive-comparative, the type of the research was applied, the method was survey, and data collection was field. Research population consisted of sports and media experts and research sample included 120 individuals who were selected non-randomly. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The validity of the questionnaire was determined by 12 professors and experts and the reliability was also determined through Cronbach’s Alpha (?=0.89). Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used to investigate if the data were normal and Friedman test was used to determine the significance of hypotheses. The results of the research revealed a significant difference in the effective factors of informing, social participation, education and culture-making roles of sport media in athletic sport development (p=0.05). Sport media played an inconspicuous role in identifying the talents of athletic sports, and private sectors as well as sponsors rarely invest in athletic sports. On the other hand, they have neglected innovation in their field, notification of sport authorities, and increased researches and studies in athletic sports. Employing committed and professional forces, sport media can use this position to promote athletic sport and to enhance community awareness. This fact will be accomplished by multilateral cooperation of media and sport communities.