Will MLS's mid-season signings become a yearly tradition?

I'm not used to predictions of the future being N&A, but we'll give it some time to percolate.
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My short answer is yes, it's likely to continue. It's not actually completely new--DC United in 2004 was a .500 team until Christian Gomez showed up in August. From his second game through the MLS cup final, they lost IIRC once in 15 games.

But yes, an MLS that's reluctant to pay transfers, even for big stars (and there's actually good reasons for that), there are going to be, in general, a whole lot more players available on a free in the summer window than the winter/spring one.

I think NYRB "paid extra", at least for Reyna (in the sense that I think you could have had him at a cheaper salary if you'd waited until the Prem season was over) if not also Angel, to guys who would play now, but I don't think that's going to be the general rule, especially for guys higher on the famousness scale than Reyna and Angel are.

Is it a bad thing? I dunno, frankly American fans are quite used to tuning in as the league season builds towards a climax near the end (does anyone know when the NCAA basketball season starts? I don't, but I damn sure know when it ends).

But maybe there are things we can do about it if we gain the flexibility--copying the season of Europe's big leagues will remain impractical for the foreseeable future. A split-season, however, might work at some point.

 

i don't see any huge problems on the horizon. your point about the fans recognizing that early season games are meaningless is a crucial point though ... and that has to be addressed. if i was on the fence, there'd be NO reason i'd go out and spend money on these April, May, June games this year. partially for some of the reasons you named.


but back on topic, the only possible problem i see, is that if a lot of teams sign semi-big names in June/July (the level of a Hasselbaink, Abel Xavier, etc), and a lot of these guys end up flaming out or retiring and don't come back for year 2 of their contract. then the team is stuck in the same scenario: wait until the European season ends and look for more semi-stars on a free transfer. that WOULD be a problem, if a team gets stuck in that cycle for multiple years in a row. that would really dampen enthusiasm amongst the fanbase.

let's hope it doesn't come to that for any of our teams. except DC Utd ... but they've proven to not want to go that route in the first place, so it probably won't.

 

This is a common trend in most US sports however. In basketball, there are several big mid-season trades involving superstars and franchise players. Just this past year Iverson moved to Denver. In baseball, teams like the Yankees and Red Soxs bring in all stars mid-season as well. I think the American public is very used to this and it does a great deal to not only spark interest in your fanbase but generate some publicity if a particular season started off on the wrong foot.

There's nothing wrong with this practice at all IMHO.

 

Until the European leagues conform to our calendar, we will be seeing summer signings for awhile.

As others have said though, this is not a bad thing.

 

i'm not sure of the odds of European leagues confirming to MLS's schedule at some point, versus the odds of MLS's opting to avoid scheduling games in the summer, but i'd put my money on the latter.

mid-season signings are great, but i think the real question for the future of MLS will be "when is the defined mid-season period?"

in 7-10 years i could see the MLS mid-season being in January-February and not June-July.

 

Maybe you should stick to the subject instead of turning this thread into a copy of yet another "MLS should be a fall-spring league" thread that I know you won't stop gabbing about.

I knew someone would make a stink.

 

mid-season signings are great, and they should and will become a yearly tradition, if they already haven't in MLS.

 

yeah, but it's a fairly boring subject, as presented.

 

So when DC United fans are in a tizzy about their season's poor start, the rest of BigSoccer mocks them. And then we see comments that the beginning of the MLS season is meaningless. Will the double standards never cease?

In any case, better that the beginning of the season be meaningless than the end.

 

Then don't hijack a thread for your own agenda.

 

are you suggesting that once (or if) UEFA leagues conform to the MLS calendar, that MLS fans will stop seeing summer signings?

i don't think that's true.

mid-season signings are great, and as long as Fifa allows two transfer windows per calendar year, MLS will see it's share of in-coming and out-going players in the summer and/or in the mid-season, whatever name it has.

 

it's not an agenda.

it's a discussion of mid-season signings.

i don't see how we can have a discussion of mid-season signings if we don't discuss the idea of when the "mid-season" is for MLS.

you were the first to introduce the idea of schedule-flipping in this thread, with your reference to Europe conforming "to our" schedule on the calendar.

i'm not sure why it's ok for you to bring that idea up without someone else bringing up the idea of perhaps MLS instead flipping its schedule or "conforming" at some point.

mid-season signings are great. i love that Fifa has two transfer windows.


edit: i'll drop this talk here now, as there's another thread that might be more on topic for my "agenda": https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=536030

 

the mid-season signings that we tend to see in MLS are usually on free or very-low cost transfers.

until there is enough revenue in the league for MLS I/O's to spend on transfer fees, then yes, the mid-season signings will look like scraps from bigger tables.

but, there are some quality players out there that will come to MLS on a free, or at very little transfer cost.

the key is realizing when those players will be out-of-contract with their previous teams. it is my understanding that most contracts in the world of football expire in the summer. perhaps that will change with time. but as it stands MLS has a "mid-season" or secondary transfer window when most of the footballing world has an "off-season" or primary transfer window and many player contracts are getting renewed or let expire around the world during the summer. most MLS contract expire in December, afaik.

and as long as MLS is trying to grow and currently get by on the cheap (and the owners aren't big -- or any kind of -- spenders in the transfer market), then yes, "free" mid-season acquisitions will be the norm in MLS.

as others have said, it's not a bad thing. but ideally, MLS would put itself in a position where players (especially the best and most marketable) are with the teams for full seasons (and not half-seasons) to start their time in MLS.

and at this point in MLS's young history, i think it's fine that the league is set to get a significant mid-season boost from the addition of guys like Beckham and Blanco.

in the future, i'd hope that MLS would be big enough where the fans would be familar with and almost demand seeing those kinds of boosts and additions to MLS in both the primary and secondary transfer windows. but i think the league is still several years off from being in that powerful and economically-solid position.

 

I stopped reading here.

LA didn't make the playoffs because of those April, May, and June games. DC won the Supporters Shield on the back of those April, May, and June games.

 

Last year's midseason signings :

Pascal Bedrossian
Matias Donnet
Juan Manuel Abundis
Jafet Soto
Ante Jazic
Jesus Morales
Arsene Oka
Paul Dalglish

and maybe a couple more I forgot. But these are exactly the "role players" that are brought in as that last piece of the puzzle. This season will probably be the same. I'd be surprised if we get more than one real superstar this summer. I'm looking at DC and Houston as strong candidates. Chivas also if they can trade for another DP spot.

And the 4 DPs that are already signed are technically not mid season signings. They've been signed for months now.

 

right, but only the 2 at RBNY were let out (or got bought out) of their contracts early so they could join MLS during the pre-season or early in the season.

the two other DP's (Beckham and Blanco) have prior contractural agreements that mean their join-date of MLS wil be mid-season 2007.

as long as MLS won't pay big transfer fees (and there's nothing wrong with that for the time being), most of the "attractive/desirable" foreign players (or YA's) willing to come to MLS will join the league at the conclusion of their current contracts, and as is the case with guys like Beckham and Blanco, or perhaps even someone like Rivaldo or Keller, that means that these players will be mid-season signings (or additions) for MLS.

 

tab already hit on this, but wth ...

i'm not sure of the exact intent of this thread (it may have been a thinly veiled attempt at something), but i'm pretty sure this line is a complete miss of the point.

how many of those 4 DPs were suited up for game one this season? just one ... the one the MLS club paid a transfer fee for (or at least paid extra for), Reyna. the other 3 will miss at least 1 month of the season, Beckham and Blanco will miss 3 1/2 months -- which is a huge chunk when you consider the regular season is only 6 months. and i'll bet MLS brings in 2-3, maybe 4 guys, of pretty significant stature before the season is over.

the question is, will this take place every year ... or will MLS execs make more of an effort to have all of their targeted guys for game 1?

 

Asprilla - I got the point of the thread, I just don't particularly see the significance. And besides I think the actual act of the signing is a bigger event than that player's debut.

As for the effect of those players only joining mid season and somehow the fans missing the beginning of the season ... I just don't think that will be a problem in the long run. Beckham, Blanco and Angel will all be here at the beginning of next season. If this bothers anyone, they should just think of the signing as a half season early instead of a half season late.

 

that sounds like BS-specific logic, and it may fly here but likely would get mocked in the real and general world of sports fandom.

 

I agree completely with the premise of this thread.

When will EPL teams begin offering MLS sufficient transfer fees to convince MLS to release players mid year so that the multiple players we've sent there in the last few years will be there for the beginning of the season. Those cheap bastards.

 

Don't worry...neither can we...

I think the "trading deadline" is a good one - you get that buzz for a good week or so right around the deadline in MLB, the NHL and the NBA...who's gong where, who's staying, what are teams looking for.

(The NFL not so much, probably because they really can't get any more hyped then they already are...do they even HAVE a trading deadline?)

I like it...I mean, who saw the Abel Xavier move coming two weeks ago? It' now a case of "what are they going to do next?" People get interested when that happens...