Yesterday, while gloating over Joey Chestnut's win, Fat City forgot to mention that for his 10 minutes of effort, he walked home with a cool $20,000.
That may seem like a lot, but it's becoming common for competitive-eating contests to include a large purse. Not only does it increase the suspense but it entices big names such as Chestnut and his rival, Takeru Kobayashi, to enter.
Major League Eating (MLE) holds nearly 100 sanctioned events every year and nearly all offer a cash prize of some sort. But unlike other sports, it depends mostly on one source of revenue. Forbes has the nitty-gritty details but because MLE doesn't have ticket revenue or a television contract, it has to rely on sponsors. Hence the Nathan's in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.
The sponsor who puts up the most money is hamburger chain Krystal.
The Southern hamburger chain serves sliders similar to White Castle's. Last year it offered the
self-proclaimed "largest cash purse in competitive eating history" when
it handed out $50,000 in prizes
for eating the most sliders in an eight-minute period. Joey Chestnut
won that event after downing 93 burgers. This year's competition in September is said to promise $75,000 in prizes.
The Pizza Hut-sponsored "P'Zone
Chow-Lenge," which aired on SpikeTV, also awarded
$50,000 in prize money, though that number is a little skewed since
only Chestnut, Kobayashi and one selected amateur competed.
And competitors can pick up four-digit paychecks for winning minor
competitions such as the Stroehmann's Sandwich Slamm, a
corned-beef-on-rye eating contest. The second-best American eater,
Patrick Bertoletti (he placed third this year at Nathan's), won the
$5,000 grand prize. Coming in second, Chestnut took home $2,500.
Forbes
estimates Chestnut clears $150,000 per year in prize money. Not chump change but still meager
compared to the money thrown around in real sports such as boxing, golf
and tennis. Chestnut is one of the best in the world but has kept his day
job as a construction manager.
Goes to show there are many reasons to get into competitive eating --
glory, fame, free food -- but becoming a millionaire isn't one of them.
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The sponsor who puts up the most money is hamburger chain Krystal.
You ever eat a Krystal burger? You'd have to pay me a bunch of money to get me to eat them, too.
You might find this interesting--a breakdown of the 2009 winnings in competitive eating so far. Pat is actually ahead of Joey!
http://eatfeats.com/query.php?...
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