Start cooking those hot dogs. The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, a July 4th staple dating back to 1972, is primed for another spectacle on Coney Island this Thursday on Independence Day. This year’s event will crown a new men’s champion for the first time since 2015. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, the eight-time defending champion, will not compete due to a conflicting endorsement deal with Impossible Food.
Chestnut’s absence opens the door for an array of other prolific eaters to seize the crown. Favorites on the men’s side include last year’s runner-up Geoffrey Esper and third-place finisher James Webb. In the women’s competition, Miki Sudo looks to win her third consecutive title. Sudo devoured 39.5 hot dogs and buns in last year’s event. Here is everything that you need to know about the 2024 Hot Dog Eating Contest, including TV and live stream information.
Live coverage of the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest will air on ESPN2 beginning at noon ET. The women’s portion of the contest will begin on ESPN3. Viewers can stream the action on Fubo, which offers a free trial so you can try before you buy.
The women’s contest kickstarts the competition at 10:45 a.m. ET, with the men’s portion of the event following at roughly 12 p.m. ET.
This year’s hot dog eating competition will take place on Thursday, July 4, 2024 at 10:45 a.m. ET (7:45 a.m. PT) for the women’s competition and 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT) for the men. The men’s competition will re-air at 5 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET. You can watch the women’s competition on ESPN3 and the men’s competition live on ESPN2 and re-aired on ESPN. You can stream the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Content on Sling TV and the platforms featured below.
If your cable subscription doesn’t include ESPN’s family of channels, or you’ve cut the cord with cable, you can still watch all the hot dog eating today. You can even watch the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for free without cable.
One of the most cost-effective ways to stream today’s contest is through a subscription to Sling TV. To watch today’s hot dog eating competition and all the top-tier sports and content airing this summer, you’ll need a subscription to the Orange + Blue tier. Sling’s Orange + Blue tier costs $60 per month, but the platform is currently offering 50% off the first month of any pricing tier, making the Orange + Blue tier $30 for the first month. You can cancel anytime.
Note: Because Sling TV doesn’t carry CBS, you won’t be able to watch CBS-aired programming like next year’s NFL games on CBS. To watch these games, plus PGA golf, UEFA Champions League and more live sports, we recommend you also subscribe to Paramount+ with Showtime. Paramount+ with Showtime costs $12 per month after a one-week free trial. CBS Essentials and Paramount+ with Showtime are both subsidiaries of Paramount.
Sling TV is also our top choice to stream network-aired Paris Olympic events. There are 46 channels to watch in total, including ABC, NBC and Fox (where available). You get access to NHL games airing on TNT and TBS, which Fubo doesn’t carry. All subscription tiers include 50 hours of cloud-based DVR storage.
You can watch today’s competition on Fubo, a sports-centric streaming service that offers access to local network affiliates, ESPN and more. To watch the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for free, start a seven-day free trial of Fubo. You can begin watching immediately on your TV, phone, tablet or computer. In addition to today’s contest, you’ll have access to NFL football, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, MLS and international soccer games. Fubo’s Pro Tier is priced at $80 per month after your free seven-day trial.
Sports fans will want to consider adding on the $7.99 per month Fubo Extra package, which includes MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, Tennis Channel, SEC Network and more channels with live games. Or upgrade to the Fubo Elite tier and get all the Fubo Extra channels, plus the ability to stream in 4K, starting at $90 per month ($70 for the first month).
There are no contracts with Fubo, you can cancel anytime. The Pro tier includes over 180 channels, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Fubo includes most channels you’ll need to watch live sports, including CBS (not available through Sling TV). All tiers come with 1,000 hours of cloud-based DVR recording. Stream on your TV, phone, tablet and other devices.
You can watch today’s contest, and many other top-tier sports coverage, including NFL Network, with Hulu + Live TV. The bundle features access to 90 channels, including Golf Channel. Unlimited DVR storage is also included. Watch network-aired Olympic events, every NFL game on every network next season with Hulu + Live TV, plus exclusive live regular season NFL games, popular studio shows (including NFL Total Access and the Emmy-nominated show Good Morning Football) and lots more. Hulu + Live TV comes bundled with ESPN+ and Disney+ for $77 per month.
If all this talk of hot dog eating competitions has made your competitive juices flow, or it’s just made you crave a hot dog, you can order Nathan’s hot dogs to be delivered right to your doorstep with Amazon Fresh. Apologies in advance for the inevitable ketchup vs. mustard on a hot dog debate. We’re Team Mustard by the way, but you do you.
16-time Mustard Belt winner Joey Chestnut’s name is all but synonymous with the famed eating competition, but this year Chestnut will be chowing down from home. In a case of weiner takes all, Chestnut is banned from competing in this year’s competition after signing a partnership deal with Impossible Foods, a rival of Nathan’s which makes plant-based hot dogs.
Chestnut will be competing against rival and former champion Takeru Kobayashi in a different hot dog eating competition set to air live on Labor Day on Netflix.
Today’s hot dog eating competition will last about ten minutes.
2023 men’s champion Joey Chestnut ate (gulp) a whopping 62 hot dogs in his bid to win the Mustard Belt last year. Women’s champion Miki Sudo inhaled 39.5 hot dogs to win last year, buns included. Sudo, who will be competing this year to defend her title, holds the women’s world record for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, eating 48.5 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes in 2020.
The winners of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest each win $20,000 cash, and hopefully some antacid.
There’s nothing more American on the Fourth of July than watching grown men and women eat as many hot dogs as they can, buns and all, in 10 minutes. Yes, it’s time for another Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. This event, on Coney Island, is easily Major League Eating’s (yes, it’s a thing) largest, but it far predates Major League Eating. The contest has only been sanctioned by MLE since 1997, and this will be the 102nd iteration of it. There are 20 male and 20 female contestants, including the defending champ, Joey Chestnut, the winners of regional qualifiers, individual qualifiers and special invitees.
Chestnut is the current two-time defending champion, and he’s won 10 of the past 11 titles. He’ll try to hold off Matt Stonie, who handed Chestnut the one defeat in the middle of his dominant run back in 2015 by downing 62 hot dogs. Chestnut has only gotten better(?) year after year. He holds the record with 73.5 hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes in a 2016 qualifier. Last year, he nearly equaled that mark with 72 dogs.
If you’re looking for odds on this year’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, SportsLine has you covered. Big shocker: Chestnut is the clear favorite.
On the women’s side, participants will look to dethrone Miki Sudo, who took the crown from “The Black Widow” Sonya Thomas in 2014 and has worn it ever since. Sudo is a four-time winner herself, and last year she broke 40 hot dogs for the first time at the event, eating 41. The record still belongs to Thomas, who ate 45.
Here’s everything you need to know for the big event:
Watch the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
Date: Wednesday, July 4
Time: 10:50 a.m. (women’s) and noon (men’s)
Location: New York’s Coney Island
Channel: ESPN3 (women’s) and ESPN2 (men’s)
Stream: WatchESPN
Prize money
Each side gets $20,000 split among the top five finishers. The tiers go:
First place: $10,000
Second place: $5,000
Third place: $2,500
Fourth place: $1,500
Fifth place: $1,000
There are parts of this contest that people don’t fully understand. For starters, while a hot dog and its bun have to be eaten, they don’t have to be eaten together. Buns can be dunked in liquid (“dunking”) to soften them up, but not long enough that the bread can dissolve. Contestants can also nibble bites as time expires (“chipmunking”) and have the nibbles be counted.
Eaters can be penalized for making a mess, not because manners matter, but because when you’re making a mess you aren’t eating all of your food. Naturally, if you vomit you’re disqualified. Believe it or not, you can also use condiments, but for obvious reasons they aren’t used often.
Tiebreakers come down to a five-hot dog showdown, with a one-hot dog sudden death.
A Fourth of July tradition gets underway with a familiar face set to take center stage in Coney Island – but it’s not Joey Chestnut’s. Miki Sudo looks to continue her reign of dominance over the women’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, as the 38-year-old has won every tournament in which she has participated. That’s a trend that’s likely to continue in 2024 for the women’s record holder; Sudo holds nine Ketchup Belts and also set the women’s hot dog record with 48 ½ in 2020.
On the men’s side, a trend has already been broken: Chestnut will not be a part of this year’s men’s field amidst a dispute with Major League Eating. That means the men’s side will crown a new champ for the first time since Chestnut took the Mustard Belt back from Matt Stonie in 2016.
Here’s how to watch history unfold this Thursday:
How to watch the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest 2024
TV channels: ESPN2, ESPN3 (Watch FREE on Fubo)
Start time: 10:45 a.m. ET (women’s) | Noon ET (men’s)
The ESPN family of networks is the home of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, and in 2023, announced an extension to broadcast the event through at least 2029. Coverage for the women’s competition begins at 10:45 a.m. ET on ESPN3. The men’s leg of the contest airs at noon ET on ESPN2. ESPN will have re-airs of the competition at 5 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET.
Who is competing in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest this year?
On the women’s side, superstar gobbler Miki Sudo plans to defend her Ketchup Belt after winning in 2022 and 2023. Sudo missed the 2021 hot dog eating contest due to her pregnancy. Other notable competitive eaters who will make the trek to Coney Island include Geoffrey Esper, Mayoi “Ebimayo” Ebihara, Nick Wehry, Michelle Lesco, James Webb and Patrick Bertoletti.
Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest airs Thursday, July 4, 2024 from Coney Island. How to watch: Fans can watch the game for FREE via a trial of fuboTV.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
When: July 4, 2024
Time: Noon ET
Where: Coney Island
TV: ESPN2
Channel finder: Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, Cox, DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.
Live stream: fuboTV
Source: The Sporting News, CBS Essentials, USA TODAY
