The aim of this study was to identify, prioritize and validate the criteria for the development of urban sports land uses, emphasizing spatial economic productivity. A mixed-methods approach (qualitative-quantitative) was employed. In the qualitative phase, using Glaser’s classical grounded theory and semi-structured interviews with 18 experts in sports management, urban planning, and urban economics, the main concepts and categories were extracted. In the quantitative phase, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the opinions of 14 experts, the weights of the criteria were calculated. Five main categories were prioritized: economic-financial criteria (weight 0.325), physical-functional criteria (0.242), locational-infrastructural criteria (0.198), institutional-managerial criteria (0.141), and contextual criteria (0.094). Among the sub-criteria, revenue generation potential (0.142), return on investment indicators (0.118), and functional flexibility (0.097) received the highest weights. Furthermore, the results of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on 383 professionals and experts confirmed the five-factor structure (KMO = 0.872, total variance explained = 43.03%) and showed rank convergence with the AHP weights. The theoretical storyline derived from the data indicated that spatial economic productivity is achieved through the causal chain of "financial priority → physical flexibility → strategic location → institutional support → social contextualization". The findings showed that given land scarcity and public resource constraints in Iranian cities, spatial economic productivity takes higher priority over mere spatial justice. Flexible design, adjacency to population-attracting land uses, and the ability to attract private investment are among the most critical factors to be considered in the development of urban sports land uses.