Major League Eating

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Major League Eating

Category	Competitive eating
Jurisdiction	Global
Abbreviation	MLE
Founded	1997
Headquarters	New York City, US
President	James Bell
Official website
majorleagueeating.com

Major League Eating (MLE) is an organization that oversees professional competitive eating events and television specials. The league airs its annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.

Brothers Richard and George Shea took over Nathan's publicity in the mid-1990s and were able to increase the exposure and attendance of Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Seeing a business opportunity, the brothers founded International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) in 1997 as a sanctioning body to oversee, regulate, and organize events and TV deals. IFOCE's professional league became known as Major League Eating.

Major League Eating coordinates events in the United States and Canada.^[1]