Identifying of cultural challenges and opportunities of sport in Mazandaran province

In today's era, sport is a social phenomenon which is linked to cultures. The purpose of this study is to identify the cultural challenges and opportunities of sports in Mazandaran.
The research method has been sort of a Sequential exploration using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the qualitative approach, 32 people including experts, managers, coaches, referees and athletes from Mazandaran who have been prominently active at national levels, have been interviewed to identify the factors related to the research. Eventually, 45variables were identified as related to challenges and 21 variables were identified as related to sports and cultural opportunities of sports in Mazandaran.
In the quantitative approach, after identifying the variables, an AHP questionnaire  was designed  and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by three Sports-Management Professors and also by considering the necessity of inconsistency rate being lower than 0/1 which was totally met. For weighing the variables, the verdicts of 90 experts, administrators, athletes, coaches and referees at the national level have been considered. The Sampling method in both qualitative and quantitative approaches was Purposeful and in access.
Spirituality fade among athletes acquiring the relatives weighs of: coaches 0/249, manegers0/289, referees 0/295 and people's happiness and euphoria through winning the sport events acquiring the relative weights of 0/243, referees 0/24, and experts 0/231 are respectively the most important cultural challenges and opportunities of sports in Mazandaran.
Familiarization of  athletes with the religious principles,  joint meetings between athletes and Clergymen, valuing the spirituality of the sports officials can be  partly responsible for increased spirituality among athletes.