Urbanization and urban design develop with the growth of population simultaneously. Urban planning requires the specialists’ attention in different fields by necessity, resulting in moving such planning towards creativity. The present study aims to identify the frameworks and standards related to the design of the sports city in an applied form based on the grounded theory. To this aim, a qualitative approach was adopted. The population included 18 experts in the field of urban planning and architecture, as well as sports management who were selected purposefully through semi-structured interviews. Coding was conducted in three stages of open, central, and selective. Validity and reliability of the data were confirmed by three participants and repeating the coding by two experts, respectively. Based on the results, the frameworks and standards of the sports city include city parks, sports venues, characteristics, physical structure, placement of sports venues and spaces, accessibility, livability, pride and brand of national honors, development, and existence of sports medicine centers. The results reflected the common opinions of exports in the field of sports management, as well as urban architecture and planning, indicating that the above-mentioned categories are among the identified frameworks and standards, as well as essentials of sports city.