Major League Soccer announced that transfer activity in 2026 set league records for revenues involving both incoming and outgoing transfers.
According to the league, MLS teams spent a record $370 million on incoming transfers an increase of 10.1% from the 2025 mark of $336 million. In terms of outbound transfers, MLS teams received $218 million in revenue, an increase of 7.9% from the 2025 mark of $202 million.
Over the years, MLS has sought to have a more even split between the monies spent and received in the international transfer market. According to numbers provided by the league, the ratio of inbound to outbound expenditures was 35.3% in 2021, whereas for 2026 that number is 58.9%, though in 2024 that number was 76.1%.
In terms of incoming transfers, eight different MLS teams broke their records, including Toronto FC spending an initial outlay of $22 million to acquire forward Josh Sargent from Norwich City.
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The remaining clubs were the Colorado Rapids (Morgan Whittaker), D.C. United (Louis Munteanu), Inter Miami CF (Rodrigo De Paul), Sporting Kansas City (André Luiz), Philadelphia Union (Ezekiel Alladoh), Red Bull New York (Jorge Ruvalcaba), and St. Louis City SC (Twice; Carlos Holse and Rafael Navarro).
The incoming transfers include 30 players with World Cup experience, 20 of whom were on the rosters of teams at the recently concluded 2026 World Cup.
For outbound transfers, seven teams received record fees for players, including the Colorado Rapids (Lucas Herrington), LA Galaxy (Gabriel Pec), Nashville SC (Jonathan Perez), Portland Timbers (Kevin Kelsy), Real Salt Lake (Zavier Gozo), San Diego FC (Luca Bombino), and St. Louis CITY SC (João Klauss).
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The $15 million RSL received from Premier League side Crystal Palace for the contract of Gozo is the second largest transfer fee for a Homegrown Player in MLS history.
Gozo is one of 15 players developed in MLS to generate multi-million dollar transfers, a group that includes U.S. internationals Alex Freeman, Max Arfsten, Benjamin Cremaschi and Sebastian Berhalter.
MLS added that the intra-league transfer mechanism, referred to as the Cash For Player Trade Rule, has also driven spending on players. MLS spent $46 million on intra-league player trades in 2026, with 92% of those deals involving a Designated Player or U22 Initiative signing.
