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This study explored the efficacy of an extant resident support model developed by Gursoy and Kendall (2006) in a hypothetical Olympic Single Host-City and Multiple Host-City bid arrangement. 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 and costs 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 IOC development and informs future studies on this important topic.

Social media has become an important frontier in the sport sponsorship paradigm (Dees, 2011), offering brands a powerful mechanism to stimulate consumer engagement (Vale & Fernandes, 2018). Despite this potential, the extent to which social media content, as part of a sport sponsorship’s leveraging activities, can yield consumer engagement behaviors is unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of integrating sponsors into the social media posts of sport organizations on fan engagement. A total of 13,542 Instagram posts from four professional sports teams were extracted from 2017–2019. A regression analysis revealed that sponsored content negatively affected engagement levels. Consequently, brands need to be more cognizant that simply sponsoring content in an inauthentic, forceable manner may not yield the results they are seeking through their association. Furthermore, sport organizations need to reconsider their social media strategy, working with partners to organically embed sponsors into content.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects that exposure to a youth day event at an elite sport competition has on youth spectators’ motivations to participate in the sport on display. Design/methodology/approach The paper was underpinned by the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Pre- and post-event questionnaires were administered to local grade seven and eight students (n=318) as part of a youth day event at the 2016 Milton International Track Cycling Challenge in Ontario, Canada. Questionnaires assessed each TPB construct one week before the youth day and immediately following the event. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about the shifts from pre- to post-event behavioral antecedent measures. Results suggest youth day events can be effective at driving positive shifts in participation intention and subjective norm among youth populations. Research limitations/implications A control group was not possible as an ethical limitation was created from the school boards which did not allow for some students/classes within the study to not experience the event. Researchers are encouraged to develop a study which allows for a youth control group and assesses the shift in behavioral antecedents at multiple time points post-event. Practical implications The paper includes implications for how to leverage subjective norms as a means of motivating post-event participation. Originality/value The paper fulfils a methodological gap to move beyond cross-sectional data and employ pre-post event research designs to measure the effect spectating an elite sport competition can have on youth’s motivation to participate in the sport on display.

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