Major League Eating
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Major League Eating (MLE) is the International Federation of Competitive Eating brand that designates all top-level competitive eaters, eating events, television specials and merchandise. The dynamic brand mark combines the appeal of traditional sports with the most extreme of the extreme sports.
Major League Eating events, as sanctioned by the IFOCE, generate more than 800 million consumer impressions each year. Major League Eating is the branding entity for all IFOCE events, talent and trademarks and also serves as the IFOCE's marquee brand for all licensing and merchandising programs.
During the past decade the IFOCE has developed competitive eating as a sport and remains the governing body of all professional eating contests. The IFOCE promotes and advances the growth of the sport while maintaining its rules, regulations and safety standards. At the same time, MLE serves as the brand for a variety of different platforms.
Under the IFOCE the sport of competitive eating has grown from a sideshow event at local fairs and festivals into a highly organized international sporting league that counts thousands of participants and hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.
Major League Eating events include the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship in Chattanooga, TN and the Johnsonville World Bratwurst Eating Championship in Sheboygan, WI. Both of these contests were aired on ESPN in 2006, as was as the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Championship on the Fourth of July. The Nathan’s contest has been an institution in Coney Island since 1916 and has been aired live on ESPN since 2004. Sonya Thomas, Joey Chestnut, and Patrick Bertoletti are all Major League Eaters on the IFOCE circuit.
Major League Eating and SpikeTV have announced a four-event series of shows that will make SpikeTV the new home of competitive eating. The first in the series will be Major League Eating: St. Patrick's Day ChowDown. The event occurs on March 16 and 17, 2007, in Savannah, GA, and airs as a one-hour telecast on SpikeTV on March 17 at 7 pm.
