- Major League Eating
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Major League Eating
MLE
Category Competitive eating Area of jurisdiction Worldwide Headquarters New York City, New York President Richard Shea Official website ifoce.com Major League Eating (MLE) is a franchise that sanctions professional competitive eating events and competitive eating television specials. The purported mission of Major League Eating is to maintain a safe environment for all events, while also seeking to create a dynamic and enjoyable fan experience. The league airs its annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.
George and Richard Shea (brothers) took over Nathan's publicity in the mid-1990s and were able to not only increase the exposure and attendance of Nathan's hot dog eating contest, but with the huge success in bringing popularity to their eating contest they completely revolutionize the eating contest sport as more companies sought to take advantage of their marketing success. Seeing the perfect business opportunity, the brothers founded International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) in 1997 to oversee/regulate/organize events/tv deals. IFOCE later changed its name to "Major League Eating" (MLE). The brothers still represent Nathan's.
Renowned eaters Takeru Kobayashi, Joey Chestnut, Sonya Thomas, and Patrick Bertoletti have all been Major League Eaters, however issues regarding contracts as well as treatment of the eaters have plagued the league in recent years, with Kobayashi leaving the league in an acrimonious dispute. Each year Major League Eating has many live and televised events. Major League Eating coordinates events in the United States, Japan, England, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Thailand and Ukraine.
On June 28, 2010, Takeru Kobayashi announced he would not compete in the Nathan's Fourth of July hot dog eating competition due to a labor impasse with Major League Eating over the stipulation that he could only compete in contests sanctioned by MLE. For the nine previous years, Kobayashi agreed to sign the same contract presented to him by MLE. Kobayashi, a six-time Nathan's winner, was in attendance at the contest, watching from the crowd. When he ran onto the stage after the contest, he was forcibly taken into custody by police. Major League Eating elected not to press charges. A Brooklyn judge later vacated all charges against him. The incident led to Nathan's removing Kobayashi's photo from their Wall of Fame.
On July 4, 2011 Takeru Kobayashi held a hot dog eating event at the same time as the annual Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest in an effort to get publicity. Kobayashi claimed he ate 69 hot dogs to establish a new world record. A video of Kobayashi's attempt later surfaced showing a clear miscount. At one point Kobayashi is seen throwing a half of hot dog behind his table. Outlets including CNBC and Gothamist reported that Kobayashi had eaten 65 hot dogs and not 69 as he claimed. Joey Chestnut, reigning world record holder told reporters "I think even Kobayashi would agree that the record still stands at 68. And if he wants to compete with me on the Fourth of July, he knows what he has to do - sign a simple contract and man up." On September 5, 2011, Kobayashi competed in another hot dog contest in which he consumed 49 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
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