Exploring the Internationalization Potential of the Persian Gulf Pro League

Professional sports leagues, like so many other organizations, seek to access international markets. The purpose of this research was to explore stakeholder perceptions of the internationalization potential of the Persian Gulf Pro League (PGPL). Data were collected via 20 in-depth interviews with football federation marketing executives, club marketing executives, and experts in internationalization and sports marketing. The data analysis was guided by the principles of grounded theory with the aid of open and axial coding. The analysis produced 39 issues affecting the internationalization of the PGPL. These were classified into five main dimensions-political, economic, managerial, legal, technical-marketing, and socio-cultural factors.