(Front Office Sports)

Hot Dog Maven George Shea on Chestnut Comeback and Investor Interest By day, George Shea runs a New York City–based real estate public relations firm. But every summer, he dons a straw hat and emcees Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Shea, 60, runs real estate PR firm Shea Communications, which lists big name clients like Netflix and Disney on Ice on its website. Since 1997, he and his brother, Richard, have also run Major League Eating, which describes itself as “the world body that oversees all professional eating contests.” MLE (originally called the International Federation of Competitive Eating “as a lark,” Shea says) hosts more than 70 eating contests each year, with other upcoming events including rib-eating competition on July 26 and a “slopper” eating competition on Aug. 30 (a slopper is a hamburger or cheeseburger smothered in some kind of chile or chile sauce).

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