SHEBOYGAN, Wis.-
The ESPN cable television network plans to air a Wisconsin bratwurst-eating contest live on Aug. 5.
The Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship has long been a part of annual Johnsonville Brat Days, a three-day festival in Kiwanis Park that goes through about seven tons of brats each year and is the chief fundraiser for the Sheboygan Jaycees. The festival has been held for more than 50 years.
"It's got all the trappings of a great event," Rich Shea, president of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But what's more is that you've got the greatest eaters in the world – Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi, Sonya Thomas, Tim Janus – all the big names coming to Sheboygan to compete."
Thomas won the Wisconsin contest last year by consuming 35 brats. But Kobayashi and Chestnut beat her in Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog contest in Coney Island, Brooklyn, earlier this month.
The contest takes place at 3 p.m. and will air after the network's live coverage of the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
"I think competitive eating is as inherent to man as running or jumping. And I think that in many ways this is a big-time sporting event," said Shea, who will be calling the brat-eating contest for ESPN.
