Major League Eating

Last updated
Major League Eating
Major League Eating (logo).png
Category Competitive eating
JurisdictionGlobal
AbbreviationMLE
Founded1997
HeadquartersNew York City, US
PresidentJames Bell
Official website
majorleagueeating.com

Major League Eating (MLE) is an organization that oversees professional competitive eating events and television specials. The league airs its annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.

Contents

Brothers George and Richard Shea took over Nathan's publicity in the mid-1990s and were able to increase the exposure and attendance of Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Seeing a business opportunity, the brothers founded International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) in 1997 as a sanctioning body to oversee, regulate, and organize events and TV deals. IFOCE's professional league became known as Major League Eating.

Major League Eating coordinates events in the United States and Canada. [1]

History

The International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. (IFOCE) is an organization that supervises and regulates eating contests across the globe, acting as a central resource for the sport. Top events include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, La Costeña "Feel the Heat" Jalapeño Eating Challenge, the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship, and the National Buffalo Wing Festival. The IFOCE was founded in 1997 by brothers George and Richard Shea.

The IFOCE counts thousands of competitors in its league, including top-ranked eaters such as Joey Chestnut, Matt Stonie, Sonya Thomas, and Bob Shoudt.The IFOCE develops, promotes and runs more than one hundred events in all variety of venues during its annual circuit.

The organization also produces television shows on competitive eating. In 2002, IFOCE produced TheGlutton Bowl, a two-hour eating event on the Fox Network. [2] The Alka-Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive eating, a three-hour elimination tournament was a 2005 IFOCE production. In 2006, IFOCE produced three hours of programming on ESPN, including a one-hour live show on the 2005 Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest and one-hour shows on the Johnsonville Foods Bratwurst contest and the Krystal Hamburger contest. In addition, IFOCE produced four 30-minute shows under the title of Tour de Gorge and six 30-minute shows titled Eats of Strength for INHD. In 2007, IFOCE produced four one-hour programs for Spike TV under the title Chowdown.

As of July 4,2010, the IFOCE was in a dispute with Takeru Kobayashi of Japan over whether competitors may also participate in contests not sanctioned by the IFOCE. [3]

Gonzo journalist Ryan Nerz emceed several competitions in 2003 to research while writing his book Eat This Book . [4]

Nationwide branches

The IFOCE maintains principal offices in New York City and operates in the United States.

The IFOCE maintains a ranking system for competitions it has sanctioned. IFOCE safety measures ensure that all sanctioned matches occur in a controlled environment under the supervision of a licensed emergency medical technician and that only individuals over the age of eighteen compete.[ citation needed ]

Mustard Yellow Belt

The Mustard Yellow Belt is the organization's signature championship belt. The belt was rediscovered by IFOCE member Mike DeVito in 1993 after being lost for more than two decades in Japan. DeVito received the belt after winning an eating match against Japan's Orio Ito. The belt was restored by the Shea brothers and is now renowned in the competitive eating world. It was held by Takeru Kobayashi from 2001 to 2006, and then by Joey Chestnut since 2007. Chestnut held the Championship Belt for eight years until Matt Stonie beat him at the July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2015. [5] Chestnut reclaimed the title in 2016 and would go on to win until 2024 when he was banned from competing in that year's contest. [6]

TV ratings

The ESPN2 telecast of the 2014 Nathan's event generated a 1.6 rating and 2.8 million viewers, making it the most watched telecast in the contest's history. [7] The ESPN2 airing also ranks as the 6th highest-rated and 5th most-watched telecast of the year on ESPN2, behind NCAA Football, the NBA and the World Cup.[ citation needed ]

In 2020, the contest was forced to change its format due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the ratings declined significantly, with the number of viewers dropping below 1 million, [8] even though it was the first professional sport to return during the pandemic. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takeru Kobayashi</span> Japanese competitive eater (born 1978)

Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi is a Japanese competitive eater. Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", he is a six-time Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest champion and widely credited with popularizing the sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest</span> American food eating competition

The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition. It is held each year on July 4 at Nathan's Famous' original, and best-known, restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.

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Sonya Thomas , also known by her nickname The Black Widow, and "The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus", is a South Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. Thomas joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 2003 and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, beating competitive eaters such as Eric Booker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Competitive eating</span> Activity in which participants compete to consume large quantities of food

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David "Coondog" O'Karma is a competitive eating champion, entertainer, and writer from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He was formerly a member of the IFOCE, but is now the director of a Competitive Eating organization called the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krystal Square Off</span> World Hamburger Eating Championship

The Krystal Square Off was the official World Hamburger Eating Championship from 2004 to 2009, taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee and sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). In this event, contestants ate as many Krystal hamburgers as possible in eight minutes.

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Joseph Christian Chestnut is an American competitive eater. As of 2024, he is ranked first in the world by Major League Eating.

Richard "Rich" LeFevre is a competitive eater from Henderson, Nevada. Rich and his wife, Carlene LeFevre, are sometimes referred to as "the First Family of Competitive Eating", and are both top ranked members of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. The couple has combined to take two of the top seven places in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2003, 2004, and 2005. He competed at Wing Bowl XIV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in which he placed second behind Joey Chestnut, another IFOCE champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Janus</span> American competitive eater and reality show contestant

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Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti is an American competitive eater from Chicago. He takes part in a variety of different eating competitions—notable wins include the 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and the first-ever world poutine eating competition in Toronto. He also holds numerous world records, including the most milk consumed in an hour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Booker</span> American competitive eater and rapper

Eric James "Badlands" Booker, also known by his online pseudonym BadlandsChugs, is an American competitive eater, rapper, and YouTuber. He holds seven Major League Eating recognized world records, three Guinness World Records, is a four-time Nathan's Lemonade Chugging Contest champion, and competed in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every year from 1997 to 2018.

Erik "The Red" Denmark is an American competitive eater and a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. He lives in Seattle, Washington and is nicknamed after Erik the Red, who was a Viking that founded the first Nordic settlement in Greenland. He has a master’s degree in digital communications media and works in aerospace procurement.

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Matthew Kai Stonie is an American competitive eater and YouTuber. Stonie won the 2015 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, dethroning 8-time defending champion Joey Chestnut. Stonie has gained fame from his YouTube channel, to which he uploads video footage of his eating challenges.

Dale Boone is an American competitive eater who holds several records for, among others, devouring pelmeni and hot dogs. Having been featured on numerous television programmes, he has proclaimed himself "Mouth of the South". Boone claims to be the great grandson of Daniel Boone.

Carmen Cincotti is an American competitive eater and holder of multiple records in Major League Eating, who earned $10,000 for his second-place finish in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2017 in which he ate 60 hot dogs in ten minutes, twelve fewer than repeat champion Joey Chestnut. From August 2018 to June 2019, he was ranked number two in Major League Eating.

Edward “Cookie” Jarvis is a retired competitive eater and a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). He is a real estate agent, married father of two, and cancer survivor. When Cookie Jarvis became a competitive eater in 2001, he was 365 pounds, and retired in 2006 reaching 525 pounds. His best finish in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest came in 2003, when he set an American record of 30½ hot dogs in 10 minutes. This put him in second place behind Takeru Kobayashi.

Michelle Cristeen Lesco is an American competitive eater. She is the 2021 women's champion in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, with 30.75 hot dogs and buns consumed in 10 minutes on July 4, 2021, ending Miki Sudo's 7-year reign.

References

  1. ↑ Phelan, Kevin (June 30, 2015). "Top dog: The man behind Nathan's July 4th contest". lohud.com.
  2. ↑ Cahill, Mary (Jan 31, 2024). "Major League Eating Competitions, Ranked Worst To Best". Mashed.
  3. ↑ "What happened to Takeru Kobayashi? From Nathan's hot dog-eating champion to obscurity". www.sportingnews.com. 2023-07-04. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  4. ↑ "Ryan Nerz | Authors | Macmillan". US Macmillan. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
  5. ↑ "Matt Stonie tops Joey Chestnut to win Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest". SI.com. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  6. ↑ Purdum, David (2024-06-11). "Hot dog contest bans Chestnut over sponsor beef". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  7. ↑ "ESPN gives Melanie Collins Hot Dog eating contest gig". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  8. ↑ "Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Tanks in the Ratings". Sports. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  9. ↑ Eating, Major League. "Competitive Eating is First Major League Sport Back Amid Crisis". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2022-09-29.
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