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Date(s) - July 4, 2024 - July 11, 2024
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How to watch the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest today
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How to watch the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest — and what Joey Chestnut is doing instead

The 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is nearly here, but missing its marquee star Joey Chestnut.

With the 16-time champion out of the event due to a contract dispute, the Nathan’s contest will proceed in its usual Fourth of July time slot and a guaranteed new champion in the men’s competition. Meanwhile, nine-time champion Miki Sudo headlines the women’s field at Coney Island.

Chestnut’s ouster boils down to Major League Eating, the organizers behind the Nathan’s contest, objecting to Chestnut’s endorsement deal with Impossible Foods, which makes a plant-based hot dog. Chestnut responded to the ban in his first interview Tuesday, claiming that MLE changed its exclusivity conditions too late for him to stop his deal with Impossible and not ruling out a return in the future.

Chestnut is far from the only gurgitator to see his relationship with MLE go south. Takeru Kobayashi and Matt Stonie, the only other men to win the competition since 2000, both saw their time end due to disputes over exclusivity in their contract negotiations.

Of course, Chestnut isn’t planning to spend his Fourth of July not gorging himself on hot dogs. He has set up his own event, the “Fort Bliss Meat and Greet,” to take place not long after the Nathan’s contest, in which he will attempt to out-eat four U.S. Army soldiers combined in a five-minute competition.

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.

MORE:Joey Chestnut by the numbers – How ‘Jaws’ dominated the field

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.