Trade deadline
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A trade deadline (or trading deadline) in professional sports is a rule regulating the trading of professional players' contracts between clubs. Players acquired through trade after the trade deadline are ineligible for postseason play in that season, unless the respective league allows them to replace an injured player on the roster. In some leagues, post-deadline trades may be banned entirely. This term is used mainly in North America. In the approach to the deadline, there is heightened activity and interest in trades.
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[edit] MLB
The Major League Baseball non-waiver deadline is July 31. After the All Star Break, teams will determine whether or not they are in position to contend for the post-season. Because of free agency and the lack of a salary cap in baseball, players in the final year of their contract are put on the "trading block" by many of the poor and mediocre teams. Smaller market teams will not, or can't afford, to pay their better veteran players high salaries so they will trade them to a contender for some players that can help them in the future.
The MLB waiver deadline is August 31. There is much less activity on this date, as the players must clear waivers to move teams.[1]
[edit] NBA
The National Basketball Association's deadline is typically the second to last Thursday afternoon in February.
[edit] NFL
The National Football League's deadline is the Tuesday following the sixth week of the regular season, which typically falls in mid-October. However, there is fairly little activity on this day and almost no star players are ever dealt to other clubs on the sixth week of the season.
[edit] NHL
The National Hockey League's deadline is typically early or mid March.
[edit] Similar schemes
Soccer clubs have two transfer windows per season: one in January, and the other from June to September. The difference here is that players cannot be bought or sold outside these periods. These transfer windows were initially introduced in Europe, and subsequently adopted by FIFA. Like North America's trade deadline, there is greatly increased activity and interest as the close of a transfer window draws near.
