What time is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on? How to watch live, and online

It’s July 4, and you know what that means: time to celebrate America by shoving as many hot dogs in your mouth as humanly possible. But however many you can eat, it’s not as many as the competitive eaters about to hit the stage in Coney Island for the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Every year, the biggest event in competitive eating is held at the corner of Surf Avenue and Stilwell, the location of Nathan's flagship restaurant. And as we look on in awe and horror, we watch hundreds of hot dogs and buns get consumed in a matter of minutes.

This year’s contest, though, is guaranteed to be a wild one, given champ Joey Chestnut is out of the competition… Meaning for the first time in years, it’s anyone’s game to take home to the Mustard Belt.

Want to watch Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest 2024? Wondering what time it’s on, what channel, or how to stream online? We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know – including why Joey Chestnut won’t be competing this year.

What time is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?

The event has been held yearly since 1916, on July 4, making this the 108th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Wild! This year, it will be held from 11 am ET to 1:30 pm ET, according to Major League Eating. If you are in NYC and want to get there a little early, though, there’s some music and pre-show stuff that’ll start around 10 am ET.

As for watching remotely, aka online or on TV, The Women’s contest kicks off per usual at 11 am ET. The Men’s contest, meanwhile, doesn’t start until 12:30 pm ET.

That said, how to watch is a little complicated, as the different parts of the competition are broadcast and streamed on different platforms and networks. It’s all ESPN, but we broke down the times/networks below, in chronological order, all times in ET:

10:45am: 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Women’s Contest, on ESPN3

11:00am: Miki Sudo Camera - 2024  Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Women’s Contest, on ESPN3

12:00pm: 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, on ESPN2

12:30pm: Geoffrey Esper Camera - 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, on ESPN3

In addition, the competition will be rerun at the following times:

4:00pm: 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, on ESPNews

5:00pm: 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, on ESPN

9:00pm: 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, on ESPN

11:00pm: 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, on ESPNews

What channel is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on? How to watch live, and online:

As you may have gathered from the above, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is broadcast and streamed on various ESPN channels. If you have an ESPN+ subscription, unfortunately, you’re out of luck here… You need the channel(s) proper in order to watch this particular hot dog contest.

That said, if you have access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and/or ESPNews through YouTube, Hulu, DirecTV, Sling TV, or fuboTV, or of course your broadcast provider, you should be able to watch live, or online.

How long is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?

The actual length of each contest is 10 minutes. That’s it! In previous years, the clock ran out at 12 minutes, and at one point it was a brisk three and a half minutes. But since 2008, the time has been the same, and it will continue in 2024.

If there’s a tie, the eaters go to a five hot dog eat-off, with the quickest to finish determining who wins. And in the case of a second tie, there’s an additional one hot dog, sudden death eat-off. Possibly literally sudden death because at that point they’ve probably already eaten over fifty hot dogs.

What is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest prize?

While Nathan’s likes to tout the Mustard Belt is the ultimate, most coveted prize for winning the hot dog eating competition, the actual prize since 2007 has been $10,000 for each winner (men’s and women’s), per the Washington Post. In addition, since competitive eating is an actual sport and the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is the crown jewel of the year, winning can lead to endorsement deals and other appearances.

Who won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2023?

Last year, Joey Chestnut took home the men’s top prize eating 62 hot dogs (and buns), for his 16th win in a row. Miki Sudo won the women’s top prize with 39.5 hot dogs, for her ninth total win. Her record is 48.5 hot dogs (and buns)!

What is the hot dog eating world record?

Joey Chestnut nabbed the world’s record for most hot dogs eaten in 2021, with a bonkers 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Miki Sudo holds the women’s world record for the aforementioned 48.5 hot dogs.

Why is Joey Chestnut not in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2024?

Daft Punk voice: the game has changed. In a wild twist, back in June it was announced that Joey Chestnut would not be returning for this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. The reason? He signed an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods, which makes hot dogs. As he is promoting a competing brand, Nathan’s – despite reportedly making multiple concessions to try to get him back – was not able to allow the competitor to, er, compete.

Instead, Joey Chestnut will be going up against former champ Kobayashi in a one-on-one Netflix special to broadcast live over Labor Day.

With Chestnut out, it’s anyone’s game. We’ll know who the first new champion is in over a decade, in a few short hours.