What's prize money for 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest winner?

Without Joey Chestnut, the only thing that matters is how much the champ takes home.

Joey Chestnut / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA

Joey Chestnut vs. Takeru Kobayashi used to be some of the biggest fireworks on July 4th.

Of course this year, there will be no Chestnut. The 16-time winner, including eight in a row, was told not to come because of his partnership with plant-based hot dog makers Impossible Foods, considered a competitor of Nathan’s.

So with no real star power, let’s get to the only thing that really matters when contestants slop messy hot dogs with buns into cups of water at Coney Island. (And is it really an eating contest with these new cheat codes?)

The champion and mustard-belt holder takes home $10,000. (For the women, it’s the pink mustard belt.) Second place nets you $5,000. Third place $2,500, fourth place $1,500, and fifth place garners a cool $1,000. Not a bad payday for 10 minutes of crushing your digestive tract. 

Sixth place and beyond affords you an upset stomach while questioning some of your life’s choices.

On the men’s side, the last time someone not named Chestnut or Kobayashi won the mustard belt was in 2000! That was Kazutoyo Arai with 25 hot dogs. The next year Kobayashi, 46, doubled that number with 50, while Chestnut, 40, holds the record with 76 hot dogs in 2021.

And speaking of Chestnut vs. Kobayashi, they’ll be renewing their famed rivalry for the first time since 2009 on Labor Day with a Netflix special of course. (Sports Illustrated sat down for an exclusive with Chestnut.)

It’s a shame. A Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest without Chesntut is like July 4th without fireworks.