Economy and economic conditions have been the most major challenges encountered by organizations in the third millennium. Sports and sports organizations are no exception in this regard. Therefore, the purpose of the present research was to examine resistance economy and its role on economic development of Iran’s sports industry. The present study was a field research using mixed method. The population were all the experts and stakeholders in the field of Sport Management (N=160). Resistance economy researcher-made questionnaire derived from Torabzadeh (2013) and economic development of sports industry questionnaire derived from Elahi (2008) were used for data collection. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, binomial and Spearman correlation coefficient tests were utilized using the 22^nd version of SPSS. Also, the 22^nd version of Amos software was used to test exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that there is a relationship between resistance economy and the economic development of sports industry and its components. Also, regression coefficients and T values confirmed the effect of resistance economy on the economic development of sports industry. Based on the findings, it is obvious that authorities have no choice but to pay special attention to the solutions of resistance economy, especially economic and revenue-generating infrastructures in sports sector and this can be a key solution in this regard.