Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest 2023 start time, network

There are some weird traditions out there for the Fourth of July — and one of the biggest ones is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. After all, how strange is it to spend the early part of your day watching people stuff your faces? Well, very. At least the competition knows what it is and with that, you don’t see it every take itself too seriously. It is over-the-top, even if it is not always altogether competitive.

After all, consider this: Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo have dominated the men and women’s categories here for years, so why would you expect something different this time around?

Per ESPN’s official press page, here is how they are hyping up the competition this time around:

Again hosting the event will be the dynamic duo of SportsCenter Anchor John Anderson and Major League Eating President Rich Shea for the second-straight year. On-site reporting will be Renee James.

As for the eaters themselves, World Champion Joey Chestnut and Top-ranked Female Miki Sudo look to defend their Mustard Belts during the 10-minute, all-you-can-eat contest. Last year, Chestnut ate 63 hot dogs and buns on the men’s side, while Sudo returned to the women’s competition and reclaimed the top spot after eating 40 hot dogs and buns.

So where can you watch it?

Well, here’s the bad news. You are not going to have a chance to watch the contest go down over on ESPN proper, at least live. The women’s competition is going to be available on ESPN3 starting at 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, whereas the men’s portion will start at noon Eastern on ESPN2. Why have them on different networks? A lot of this is confusing. We know that there are other sporting events going on, but for sheer novelty alone, we wish that it all was available on the same network.

Unfortunately, that’s not what we are getting here. We have to travel a little bit further to see all of the bun-scarfing we could ever want.

What do you most want to see on the 2023 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Once you do just that, keep coming back — there are some other updates coming very soon on all things TV.

(Photo: ESPN.)