State vs. Takeru Kobayashi

This story was interesting. Takeru Kobayashi is the hot dog eating champion.

He did not participate in this year's contest at Nathan's in Coney Island. He crashed the event and got himself arrested. Most news coverage of this incident didn't mention the real issue.

Takeru Kobayashi refused to sign a contract with "Major League Eating". As terms of the contract, he would be barred from participating in other events. He makes a lot of money from other events, so he refused to sign the contract. Therefore, he was barred from the Nathan's event.

This is an example of State restriction of the market. Such a clause is obviously unfair. Major League Eating may demand such a clause. State restriction of the market gives employers unfair leverage over employees.

Still, Takeru Kobayashi took the wrong approach. Instead of crashing Nathan's event, he should have organized his own competing event. By going to the event and getting himself arrested, he added a sense of legitimacy to Nathan's event.