Trade deadline

As Trade Deadline or trading deadline is known primarily in the US sports to date, indicating the end of a transfer period. Until the trade deadline, clubs are allowed to sign players from other clubs or to transfer them to other clubs. After that, no player changes are possible until the end of the season. Players who were signed after the respective deadline are no longer eligible to play in the rest of the season. There is an exception if too many players in the new club are injured. In many leagues, including North America, transfers after the trade deadline are completely excluded.

Associated with the day of the trade deadline is often an increased media presence, as in many leagues often top-class players change clubs at the end of the transfer period.

The North American system of the trade deadline is in contrast to the European model with different transfer phases.

Trade deadlines in the various professional leagues

MLB

In Major League Baseball , there are two trade deadlines. The so-called "non-waiver" deadline takes place annually on July 31st. After the break from the MLB All-Star Game , it is up to the teams to decide which players should be handed in and which will play for the team in the rest of the season. Since no salary cap has been negotiated in the MLB , smaller clubs in particular often decide to release players who are in the final year of their contract as free agents . As a result, these clubs do not have to pay their older players high salaries and can instead sign young talents who can help the club in the future.

The MLB "waiver" deadline is 31 August. In contrast to the "non-waiver" deadline, players who are placed on the transfer list after this deadline must actually be given up.

NBA

In the National Basketball Association , the trade deadline is shortly after the All-Star Game , which usually takes place in mid-February. About a week after the trade deadline, there is also the so-called roster deadline. Players who are signed after the roster deadline are eligible to play for the regular season, but not for the play-offs.

NFL

In the National Football League , the deadline is set in the eighth week of the season, which is usually scheduled at the end of October. In contrast to other US professional leagues, the activity on the day of the trade deadline is limited, as stars usually changed clubs beforehand.

NHL

In the National Hockey League , the trade deadline was traditionally set in mid-March. In the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons , however, the deadline was already on February 26th, 40 days before the end of the regular season. This new regulation is set out in the current NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement .

In the last few weeks before the NHL trade deadline, transfer activity is pushed forward by many teams in order to create a good starting position in the play-offs or to achieve it at all. This means that key players and stars are often transferred on the deadline or teams that want to reduce their salaries hand over more expensive players in the last few days of the transfer time. In addition, players whose expiring contracts should not be extended and who would thus become free agents after the season will be given up in the last transfer phase.

The NHL Trade Deadline arouses particularly great interest and speculation from fans and the media every year. Canadian broadcasters such as TSN , Rogers Sportsnet and The Score, in particular , often dedicate the entire day to the trade deadline to report on and analyze the latest transfers.