Residents’ support for the Olympic Games: Single Host-City versus Multiple Host-City bid arrangements

This study explored the efficacy of an extant resident support model developed by Gursoy and Kendall (2006) in a hypothetical Olympic Single Host-City (SHC) and Multiple Host-City (MHC) bid arrangements. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in two Ontario universities and randomly assigned into one of two hypothetical 2028 Summer Olympic Games bid arrangements: (1) SHC–Toronto, and (2) MHC–Toronto and Montreal. Results revealed the extant model did not perform well in the MHC bid arrangement. Findings suggest the relative importance of perceived benefits (PB) and perceived costs (PC) in garnering support from residents may differ between SHC and MHC bid arrangements. Implications for the design and exploration of MHC resident support models for the Olympic Games are discussed. This is the first study to explore resident support in a MHC bid context. The study sets the scene for research following this new International Olympic Committee (IOC) development and informs future studies on this important topic.