Most recently LIV golf and the PGA had some issues about it
The participation in this thread already demonstrates a higher level of interest that I would’ve expected. Not sure a water polo thread would get the same traction…
Start one!
Yeah, now I’m waiting for a “Challenge Accepted!” thread. 
How about combined water polo/competitive eating? I’d watch for the cramps or lack there of.
Oh!!! How about a competition where you have donuts floating in a pool in a line and you have to swim along eating them with your mouth as you go. It would sort of look like Pac-Man in real life.
I think that’s the only possible sport Homer Simpson could get interested in doing.
He’d be the Michael Jordan of that sport.
Okay. I admit there might be other reasons this is not a sport but a carnival sideshow.
Chestnut is not “banned”, sponsors emphasize. Nor is he bannock. Not banana muffins. Not Raisin Ban.
He’d be the lovechild of Michael Phelps and Joey Chestnut, of course.
It is only one event. Now, the Kentucky Derby is the only horse race most people would see in year. However, a lot more people watch a lot more horse races every day than maybe watch eating contests in a whole year.
I do consider it a sport. Then again, I consider body building a sport too.
Yeah, but that would be so boring - since they’d havta wait 30 minutes before getting into the pool.
What if they have to binge eat until all the hot dogs are gone, then jump in the pool and swim across, then throw it up after they get to the other side of the pool? It would be a triathlon!
Come to the Heartland, where pie eating contests are not a “dodgy country fair side show” but the main event.
Nice typo! 
Or WAS IT?
I prefer decongestant.
Hmm. Usually for these niche sports threads, I can point to the one thing that weirds me out the most, but this time nothing really stands out. Here are the candidates:
There actually is an organization called “Major League Eating": The Cybertruck exists. There are colleges that give degrees in nannying. Ross Perot got nominated for President twice. If enough fanatics with enough money want it to be a thing, it’ll be a thing. The existence of an eating league isn’t any loopier than the World Axe Throwing League, the World Knife Throwing League (yes, those are separate things), the American Cornhole Association, World Chase Tag, or for that matter the UFL, MLS, or WNBA. I actually find the resurrection of the Arena Football League (and that it hasn’t fallen into a canyon yet) far weirder.
A weirdo niche event just wrecked its publicity due to some petty reason almost nobody gives a damn about: It’s sad how quick so many vindictive, shortsighted hotheads are to take a bazooka to the golden goose (see Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Goldberg, Jimmy Johnson, and James Gunn, among many others) but it’s become too depressingly common to qualify as shocking.
There have been eating puns, but they seem largely perfunctory and haven’t exploded into page after page after page of soul-numbing drivel: That would require 1. the ability to care and 2. a whole lot of usable puns. Is there really that much fertile ground here?
There have been multiple attempts at mocking the whole situation by parodying real sports/problems: Hey, gotta keep the craft sharp, and you don’t always get to choose your medium.
There’s been an actual NUMBERS DEBATE, by Reimu: Fun! 
I’m posting a response: Well, I already said my piece about the Celtics’ championship, I despise soccer, I never talk about America’s Got Talent before the finale, the women’s gymnastics team trials are on a service I’m not subscribed to, the actual Olympics don’t start for about a month, and Battlebots is on the shelf with no end in sight, so exactly what else is there for me to talk about?
All right, I’ve reached my decision. The thing that weirds me out the most is that there are apparently a lot of people who watch the Kentucky Derby but NOT the Preakness Stakes or Belmont Stakes. I mean, fer chrissake, it’s called the Triple Crown for a ding-dang reason! This is like watching only the first game of the World Series!
…Oh, the OP issue or whatever? In one sentence: Joey Chestnut made either a shrewd gambit or a moronic blunder in shafting MLE to compete in an independent contest against Takeru Kobayashi depending on whether he wins (shrewd) or loses (moronic). Anwyay, may the best (?) man win! 
I feel like Sud-a-FED fits nicely here.
Or fennel-ephrine?
I think many of these “sports” have been created to feed the beast that is sports betting.
And 24 hour programming. Gotta have something to put on The Ocho!