The Atlantic has an analysis of the standoff between Takeru Kobayashi and Major League Eating.

July 3, 2013 at 8:52 am by ojrifkin · More posts about:Contracts, Kobayashi (小林尊) | Permalink * Comments (4)

4 Comments »

  1. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    July 3, 2013 @ 9:04 am

    Excellent article, which makes a good point, though the figure (chart) is inadequately explained.

  2. Anonymous said

    July 3, 2013 @ 10:58 am

    The article is a good one except that it completely fails to into account one crucial detail. Said detail negates all of the article, at least on a quick read. The reason for the contract, along with the fact that MLE creates opportunities for its eaters and takes a cut just as does any “agent” (yes, I could easily argue the other side of this since almost no one earns money except the top five or so and pays to compete) is that MLE also controls the conditions of competing (safety issues) but most important, sees to it that the sponsor’s product is “protected”. You can see easily that the whole maybe this maybe that would be really difficult. If MLE represents Nathans and Nathans is “the” hotdog, then that is it. No other hotdogs for Koby. Same goes for competing whatevers. Without recognition of this in the article and only focussing on rivalry and creating something for the fans, the whole point is moot. Koby, if you see his own Facebook page, is being touted by his manager still for wanting his freedom. He is shown in Turkey in solidarity with the protesters. IMO he is not the first and will not be the last to be led astray by a woman whose vision for him, whatever it is, has hampered him and fed him a freedom line which may have worked against him. His English is still lagging, he isn’t really going anywhere but parallel or down. MLE doesn’t need him overall. The fans do, but they do not.

  3. ojrifkin said (Registered July 27, 2005)

    July 3, 2013 @ 12:08 pm

    It is hard to see how the MLE contract is protecting wing contest sponsors given the many competitions for that food type: Hooters, Buffalo Wing Festival, Mountaire Farms, Jake Melnick’s, Wing Ding Festival, Toronto Festival of Beer, …

  4. Anonymous said

    July 3, 2013 @ 12:17 pm

    That is true OJ for sure. I think MLE plays things in a free wheeling way but all of those you mention are not the mainstay that Nathans hotdog has been since MLE was founded. We have no idea what deal Nathans makes with MLE but one can guess that it is a big one. They are likely the main sponsor of MLE in terms of income for MLE. Just a guess really, I do agree with you about the Interpretive nature of brand sponsorship. But that is why they are a PR firm, they spin things. You can certainly argue, and I would too, that there is disparity in what eaters receive or do not receive. But just like reading eatfeats, if you do not like it, you can walk away and not read. Not one person is forced to join MLE ever. This is a free country.

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment

Log in | Register | Comments by users who have not logged in will be held for approval