Introduction:
Sport is recognized as one of the effective factors on physical and mental health that plays a considerable role in socializing the youth. Nowadays, the extent of student participation in sports is influenced by various factors, one of which is social media. Due to the use of mass communication tools and their direct impact on societal values and norms, human society has been significantly influenced by them in the current era. Numerous studies have been conducted on the impact of social media, which have been reported in various ways and based on the perspectives of experts and professionals. However, the question is, what role do media play in the level of sports participation among students from the viewpoint of experts in physical education departments of Iranian universities, who are the executors of most sports activities?

Methodology:
This research is applied in terms of its objective and field-based in terms of data collection, conducted through a qualitative research method. The research population consisted of experts from the physical education departments of public universities under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The selected sample for this study included 10 experts from physical education departments, chosen purposefully and through snowball sampling. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. To record the interview data, notes were taken from the transcripts. The questions were open-ended, and interviews were conducted individually with each member of the selected sample. After data collection, simple content analysis was used for data interpretation.

Results:
According to the experts, mass media, as one of the influential factors in shaping social behaviors, play a role in increasing student sports participation through the use of digital platforms (such as Aparat and YouTube) and social networks (Instagram, Telegram) for transmitting university sports information and news to students, publishing special sports reports, organizing educational and sports webinars, especially coaching of popular disciplines in the entrepreneurial job market, in the media.

Conclusion:
The findings indicate that media act as an effective tool for promoting sports activities among students. Experts believe that media coverage of sports events increases student sports participation. Moreover, inspiration from positive sports role models and facilitating access to sports information through media have a significant impact on increasing student participation. However, despite the substantial social changes that have occurred in the post-COVID years, the perspectives of experts remain similar to the past, but a separate study should be conducted to examine how much their perspective aligns with the actual behavior of society.