Using the contingent valuation method, we estimate residents' ex ante and ex post willingness to pay (WTP) for hosting a large international sport event: The "big start" of the 2016 Giro d'Italia, which was held in the Gelderland region of the Netherlands. The percentage of residents with a positive WTP changed from 29.7% before the event to 39.3% immediately after the event, while average WTP increased significantly from €3.58 to €4.45, leading to an increase of residents' valuation from €5.8 million to €7.1 million. Additionally, following the event in the media and attending the event play an important role in explaining residents' WTP. Keywords sport events, contingent valuation, willingness to pay, media, Giro d'Italia National and regional governments in many countries spend significant amounts of public money on hosting or organizing large-scale sport events, claiming they may have large economic impacts and increase sport participation or even public health. However, most research 1 indicates that such benefits are nonexistent or relatively small. As a