Hot Dog Maven George Shea on Chestnut Comeback and Investor Interest

By day, George Shea runs a New York City–based real estate public relations firm. But every summer, he dons a straw hat and emcees Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Shea, 60, runs real estate PR firm Shea Communications, which lists big name clients like Netflix and Disney on Ice on its website. Since 1997, he and his brother, Richard, have also run Major League Eating, which describes itself as “the world body that oversees all professional eating contests.” MLE (originally called the International Federation of Competitive Eating “as a lark,” Shea says) hosts more than 70 eating contests each year, with other upcoming events including rib-eating competition on July 26 and a “slopper” eating competition on Aug. 30 (a slopper is a hamburger or cheeseburger smothered in some kind of chile or chile sauce).

This year’s contest will once again feature competitive eating superstar Joey Chestnut, who last year did not participate because of his partnership with Impossible Foods. There are separate men’s and women’s competitions and a total prize purse of $40,000. The first-place winners in the men’s and women’s competition each receive $10,000, with second-place finishers getting $5,000 apiece; third-place finishers get $2,500 each.

Shea sat down with Front Office Sports ahead of this year’s Nathan’s contest to talk about how he got into competitive eating, whether MLE would ever partner with a different hot dog brand, and what sort of interest MLE has had from outside investors.

FOS: The Nathan’s contest started in 1972. Today, it’s huge, with a live broadcast on ESPN every year. How big has it gotten?

GS: It’s incalculable. And you get these runs on social media when exciting things happen. A couple years ago, a protestor came up on stage and grabbed Joey [Chestnut]. I went and grabbed the protestor, and then Joey threw us both back and kept eating. He was a bro hero already, but now he’s a bro god. There’s all this social virality that comes from the hot dog contest. We do all sorts of other contests—we did a strawberry shortcake contest that I hosted—but Nathan’s is the crown jewel.

FOS: What’s the actual business relationship with Nathan’s?

GS: It’s a true partnership, Nathan’s is a client. It’s their contest, it was conducted before I was even a New Yorker. But it really is a partnership. ESPN also shares the rights. You’ll notice there’s no Major League Eating signage at the event, and maybe we could and should promote our brand more. But really we’re using this event as a platform for the media and other clients; we’ve had a lot of secondary sponsors in the past—Pepto Bismol, Heinz, Discovery Channel, others.

FOS: Has any rival hot dog brand ever tried to lure you away?

GS: Once. But we would never leave Nathan’s because there is something very special about the history of this contest, which dates back decades. Nathan’s is an incredible corporate brand to work with, and I’m not saying this to blow smoke. The trust level is so high. We’ll say ‘we’re going to build a giant slingshot and go to the roof and throw t-shirts to the ground.’ They say, ‘okay, great.’ If it’s funny and fun, they are on board, where I think a lot of other brands would corporatize things to death.

FOS: Joey Chestnut was banned last year over a plant-based brand deal. He’s back now. What changed?

GS: We’re extremely pleased that Joey is back. I don’t want to go back in time. Everybody recognizes the value that Joey has to the contest. This will be the best contest ever. Huge excitement that he is back. 

FOS: Have you ever tried competing in a hot dog contest yourself?

GS: Once, against a journalist. I thought I would eat 15 or more, I did six and just couldn’t go on. He ate nine. It is so much harder than you think. The flavor, which is delicious, becomes difficult to manage. 

FOS: From a business perspective, how big is Major League Eating, and how much of its business is derived from the Nathan’s contest?

GS: Nathan’s is a very powerful share of our business. Running Major League Eating is very different from running a PR firm, where I worry every single minute about every single client every day. We have a business here [with MLE], it’s profitable, and there is so much opportunity. If you think of all the knucklehead brands in the world, Major League Eating really has to be near the top. It’s almost an extreme sports brand, but it has this enormous appeal to a huge population of fans.

FOS: Have you ever received serious interest from potential suitors wanting to buy Major League Eating? Would you sell?

GS: We are not marketing the franchise in any way, but we do get inquiries. There was a very serious investment inquiry last year, which we considered and the dialogue remains sort of open. But we haven’t considered a complete sale.