Philly Front Office

“What day is the…”

I gently press my index finger to your lips and say, “…MLB Rule 5 Draft? Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Below are all the upcoming dates that you, Avid Sports Fan, need to know over the next year. Some dates are estimates since leagues don’t think it’s necessary to plan ahead. They, unlike me, are inconsiderate.

• NFL
• MLB
• NBA
• NHL

June 30, 2026 – NBA Free Agency Begins: Starting at 6pm, teams can start officially negotiating with players. Deals for hundreds of millions of dollars will be agreed to in seconds, but these deals can’t be signed until July 6.

July 1, 2026 – NHL Free Agency Begins: Starting at noon, bids go out to NHL players including restricted free agents like…let’s say Leo Carlsson. Players with 1 year left on their contracts are now eligible to sign extensions.

July 3-19, 2026 – NBA Summer League: NBA prospects get to play basketball for the first time since the last time they played basketball! The difference is that this time it will also be with other players who will not be on their team come October. Starts in San Francisco and Utah at first then descends upon Las Vegas on July 9.

July 11-12, 2026 – MLB Draft: Held in Philadelphia, PA

July 12, 2026 – MLB Futures Game: Held in Philadelphia, PA

July 13-14, 2026 – MLB All-Star Festivities: Held in Philadelphia, PA

July 15, 2026 at 4pm – NFL Franchise Deadline Day: Deadline for players to agree to extensions if they have been given franchise designations

July 20, 2026 – NHL Arbitration Hearings Begin: Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale hopefully will not need to do this. All decisions are rendered by August 3

July 26, 2026 – MLB Hall of Fame Inductions: Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, and Jeff Kent will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

July 27, 2026 at 5p – MLB Draft Signing Day: Deadline for all MLB Draftees with college eligibility remaining to sign contracts with their drafting teams. Players that have exhausted their eligibility have until 1 week before next year’s draft.

July 28, 2026 – Eagles report to Training Camp: The twice and future World Champions begin official practice

July 29, 2026 to September 6, 2026 – Eagles Training Camp:

August 3, 2026 – MLB Trade Deadline: Teams can make trades until 6pm EST. If Dave Dombrowski doesn’t do anything, this website will be unofficially shutdown because I will be numb with anger for several months.

August 6, 2026 – Hall of Fame Game: Canton, Ohio – Cardinals v. Panthers, where we will finally see who would win in a fight, a small bird or an enormous cat

August 8, 2026 – NFL Hall of Fame Inductions: Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, and Adam Vinatieri will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. Hall of Fame inductions are only important if Philadelphians are inducted so who cares this year?

August 13, 2026 – MLB Field of Dreams Game: Phillies play the Twins in a cornfield in Dyersville, Iowa.

August 15, 2026 – Basketball Hall of Fame Inductions: Amar’e Stoudamire, Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw, Joey Crawford, Mike D’Antoni, Mark Few, and Doc Rivers make the Hall in Springfield Mass. No offense to the women involved, but what the hell are Doc Rivers and Amar’e Stoudamire doing in the Hall of Fame?

August 15, 2026 – Eagles Preseason Opener: Preseason begins against the Baltimore Ravens. This is the equivalent of trying to catch a few drops of rain in the desert, but we will take it.

August 30, 2026 – NFL Roster Cutdown Day: All NFL rosters must be trimmed to 53 players.

August 31, 2026 – MLB Post-Season Eligibility Deadline: Only players already in an organization by this date are eligible for the playoff roster. There are no more 2nd deadline trades, but teams will place their big contracts on waivers in hopes that someone will relieve their financial burden in one last gasp to improve their team.

September 1, 2026 – MLB Roster Expansion: Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. It used to be 40!

September 9, 2026 – NFL Opening Night: Patriots play the Seahawks on Wednesday Night. The Eagles face Washington on Sunday at 4:25 for the home opener

September 17-26, 2026 – Flyers Training Camp: 4 games are scheduled on Sept. 21, 22, 24, and 26

September 27, 2026 – Last Day of MLB Season: All games start at approximately 3:05p EST

September 29, 2026 – NHL Regular Season Begins: The regular season is up to 84 games this year from 82

October 2026 – MLB Playoffs: Tentative.

October 9 and 11, 2026 – NBA China Games: The Mavericks play the Rockets for two preseason games in Macau for some reason. Wonderful!

*October 18, 2026 – NBA Opening Night: Tentative

November 2026 – MLB Qualifying Offers: Qualifying offers must be issued within 5 days of the last game of the World Series. MLB does not F around with its business decisions…despite nobody doing anything until the winter meetings which are always held in the fall.

November 9, 2026 – NHL Hall of Fame Induction: Former NHLers Patrice Bergeron, Cindy Curley, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk, and Brian Burke will be inducted in Toronto, CA. No Flyers? GTFOH

November 10, 2026 – NFL Trade Deadline: Teams cannot make trades after 4pm EST. This is the least fun trade deadline of the year in all sports

December 1, 2026 – MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement Expires: While this does not automatically mean a work stoppage, the owners will likely lockout the players at this point unless a new deal is reached. All of the following baseball dates are now tentative due to the impending labor doom

*December 6-9, 2026 – MLB Winter Meetings: Teams gather in Orlando, FL. Nothing says Winter Meetings like Fall in Florida.

*December 6, 2026 – MLB Hall of Fame Announcement: MLB announces Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Chase Utley inches closer to induction.

*December 9, 2025 – MLB Rule 5 Draft: Players left unprotected on the 40-man roster can be selected by other teams but must remain on the 26-man roster all season or be returned. This is maybe the most sicko baseball fan event of the year.

December 15, 2026 – MLB International Signing Period Ends: Period Lasts from January 15 to December 15 at 5p. No one is beating the buzzer because all deals are agreed to when players are in 6th grade for the most part.

December 11, 2026 – NBA Emirates Cup Championship: From Indianapolis, IN. No one cares. Unless the Sixers are in it. Then it becomes the single most important championship on the calendar.

December 31, 2026 – NHL Winter Classic: Utah Mammoth at Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the on campus football stadium for the Utah Utes. Why in the world did Utah not have a hockey team sooner?

January 11, 2027 – NFL Preliminary Signing Date: Teams can begin signing free agents for 2026 as long as they are not currently under contract with NFL teams. Also, teams can begin extending 2023 rookies including Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. Jerry Jones is wholly unfamiliar with this date.

January 13, 2027 – NFL Draft Entry Deadline 1: Deadline for draft eligible underclassmen not playing in the National Championship to declare for the draft

January 15, 2027 – MLB International Signing Period Begins: International free agents can be signed to contracts from now until December 15, 2027. This may be a funnier deadline than NBA and NFL free agency. These 16 year olds have been unofficially under contract for years at this point.

January 29, 2027 – NFL Draft Entry Deadline 2: Deadline for draft eligible underclassmen playing in the National Championship to declare for the draft

January 31, 2027 – NFL Championship Sunday: AFC and NFC Championships set for 3pm and 630pm

February 14, 2027 – Super Bowl LXI: SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. Indoors in LA to see the next Eagles’ Coronation.

February 19-21, 2027 – NBA All-Star Weekend: Phoenix, AZ

*February ?, 2027 – MLB Spring Training: Pitchers and Catchers reporting should be a national holiday every season. I don’t need a day off, just an official day it happens every year. February 15 would be nice, but I could go with 3rd Monday in February every season and be fine with that.

February 17 to March 3, 2027 – NFL Franchise Tags: All franchise and transition tag designations must be made by teams between these dates.

March 1 – 8, 2027 – NFL Scouting Combine: From Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. Ah yes, the Combine. Where a bunch of 22 year old supermen in tights run, jump, prance, and mince for our entertainment and to be measured like livestock. It is really weird when you think about it.

*March ?, 2027 – NHL Trade Deadline: Usually pretty hectic

March 9 – 11, 2027 – NFL Legal Tampering Period: Teams can contact player agents and agree to free agent deals, but no contracts can be signed until after 4pm on March 11

March 11, 2027 – Start of NFL League Year: All teams must be salary cap compliant by 4pm EST. In a yearly tradition, the Saints must cut half their roster to become cap compliant.

*March ?, 2027 – MLB Opening Day – Opening Day is anyone’s guess this year if there even is an Opening Day.

March 21 – 24, 2027 – NFL League Meetings: The next opportunity for pansies around the league to try to hurt the Eagles in some way. Phoenix, AZ

April 23, 2027 – NFL RFA Deadline: Last day for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets with new teams

*April ?, 2027 – End of NHL Regular Season

April – June 2027 – NHL Playoffs: Please give me something to look forward to Flyers

April – June 2027 – NBA Playoffs: Sixers will hopefully not be Sixersing.

April 29 – May 1, 2027 – NFL Draft: Being held in Washington, DC

*May ?, 2027 – NHL Draft Lottery: HERE WE GO!!!

*May ?, 2027 – NBA Draft Lottery: Hopefully, this has nothing to do with the Sixers.

*June ? to ?, 2027 – NBA Draft:

*June ? to ?, 2027 – NHL Draft:

June 30, 2027 – NBA Free Agency Begins: It’s on!