Major League Soccer has announced the postseason schedule for roster moves, deadlines, and drafts that will begin shortly after the end of the 2019 season. Due to the CBA agreement with the MLS Players Association, there are a large number of deadlines, drafts, and windows.
The day after MLS Cup (November 10th), all club rosters will be unfrozen for the first time in 10 weeks as a two-day trade and signing window opens up. Starting at 1 pm ET on the 11th and running until 8 pm ET on the 13th, MLS clubs can sign and trade players. This is a longer window than in previous years.
On the 14th, clubs will submit “Bona Fide Offers” to current out of contract players they wish to sign to new contracts.
The final list of eligible players for the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft will be released on November 16th at 10 am ET in preparation for Inter Miami and Nashville SC making selections in the Expansion Draft on November 19th at 5 pm ET live on MLSSoccer.com. Inter Miami and Nashville SC may each select up to 5 players. FC Dallas is exempt from having any players selected by virtue of having a player selected last year; as are D.C. United, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Houston Dynamo, and New York Red Bulls.
November 21at at 1 pm ET is the deadline for clubs to exercise all contract options for 2020. FC Dallas has several players that fall under this option umbrella; including, but not limited to, Jesus Ferreira, Reggie Cannon, and Bryan Reynolds.
The MLS Waiver Draft happens at 3 pm ET on November 25th. All clubs are eligible to select players in the reverse order of the 2019 finish including playoffs with Nashville selecting 25th and Inter Miami 26th. The list of players eligible for the End-of-Year Waivers will be released by MLS Communications on Nov. 22.
Following the Waiver Draft, MLS free agency opens. MLS Communications will make the complete list of Free Agents available on Nov. 22.
The MLS Re-Entry Process – it used to be a draft, it’s unclear if this language change is official – begins with Stage 1 on November 26th at 3 pm ET and concludes with Stage 2 on December 3rd at 3 pm ET. This selection process is also in reverse order of the 2019 finish including playoffs. The list of players eligible for selection in the Re-Entry Process – Stage 1 will be released by MLS Communications on Nov. 22 and Stage 2 on Dec. 3 at 10 a.m. ET.