Major League Soccer is shifting its calendar to align with top European leagues in 2027 which should elevate the league’s position as a buying and selling power.
MLS traditionally started in February and culminated in December with MLS Cup. The calendar change means the league will start in July and end in May. From a transfer market perspective, teams are now on the same playing field as European sides during the summer. Most transfer business in Europe gets completed in the summer compared to the winter given the difficult nature of acquiring players midseason.
Same goes for MLS, though their market had been operating inversely to Europe. They would try to sign players during their offseason while European teams were mid-campaign, and their midseason window came during Europe’s offseason.
Tani Oluwaseyi is a recent example having been signed by Villarreal from Minnesota United this summer.
Minnesota United were reluctant to sell the Canadian international striker—chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad telling The Athletic: “We did not want to sell Tani, we said no several times.
“But it came to the point where the value was such a high level to justify the conversations. Also, Villarreal is a club of such a high stature. As a club and league, we should be selling players to top clubs.”
The other side of it is MLS teams have often had to toil with how cashing in on a player could affect their position as a playoff contender. Now, with the transfer window aligning with the rest of Europe, teams have more time to prepare and consider possibilities in the market. They also get to bed in players before a season starts and won’t have to worry about an acclimatization period.
MLS Getting Additional Advantage in Summer Transfer Window
One change that might have gone unnoticed is how long the MLS summer window will remain open for, too.
While Europe’s top five leagues—the Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A—all close on the same day, Türkiye’s Süper Lig stays open a bit longer. MLS will reportedly stay open past the top five leagues which could make it an attractive destination. Especially if the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America leads to an explosion of interest in the sport.
The Süper Lig historically has been an avenue for Premier League teams, for example, to offload players once their window shuts. This past summer, Manchester United sent André Onana on loan to Trabzonspor after signing Senne Lammens on deadline day.
It remains to be seen if MLS teams can compete from a financial perspective once the calendar shifts given the might of some Turkish teams, but regardless it’s another avenue for teams to pursue. MLS sides are also hampered by salary and roster rules such as Designated Players. Potential changes to those systems could improve the league’s spending power as well.
Summer is historically a busier period for European teams as well. Using the Premier League for example, €2.37 billion ($2.75 billion) was spent in the 2024–25 summer transfer window including 277 arrivals, per Transfermarkt. The following January window saw just 77 arrivals and €504 million in fees.
Teams like Inter Miami and LAFC have benefitted this decade from signing Lionel Messi and Son Heung-min respectively midseason, but those are outliers. Messi moved on a free transfer while LAFC broke the league record to sign Son from Tottenham Hotspur. There’s also Thomas Müller who signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps on a free.
Given the lack of business in the winter, it’s often difficult to pry away talent from European sides in the middle of a campaign. Son was even linked with a loan move away from LAFC this winter so he can stay in form for the World Cup. Though, he dispelled any rumors.
“If I have to replace a center back in January, [clubs in top five leagues] want to give us a s--- player because teams don’t want to sell their good players then,” an unnamed CSO said to The Athletic.
Being on the same schedule as other leagues should improve MLS as a destination, and clubs as real players, in the transfer market.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How MLS Calendar Shift in 2027 Affects Transfer Market Power.
