In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by the league's rules.
Free agency was severely restricted in many sports leagues; instead, clubs had a reserve clause which allowed them to retain players indefinitely.
Usage
Association football
In professional association football, a free agent is either a player that has been released by a professional association football club and now is no longer affiliated with any league, or a player whose contract with their current club has expired and is thus free to join any other club under the terms of the Bosman ruling.
Free agents do not have to be signed during the normal transfer window that is implemented in some countries' leagues. If they are signed by a team, the team signing them does not have to pay any fees – sometimes this is known as "a free transfer".
If a player is released from their club when the transfer window is closed, they cannot sign for another team until the window reopens. A notable case of this being Sol Campbell who in September 2009 was released from Notts County, just after a month from signing on a free transfer. He signed for his former club Arsenal in January 2010 during the winter transfer window, after spending a few months training with the team to maintain his fitness.
Australian Football League (AFL)
The Australian Football League introduced free agency at the end of 2012, after having had a brief "ten-year rule" in 1973 (when it was known as the Victorian Football League).
Deadlines and terms
In some leagues, free agency has deadlines. For example, under the most recent NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, restricted free agents who do not sign contracts by December 1 of a given year will be ineligible to play in the National Hockey League for the balance of that season. However, other leagues (such as the National Basketball Association) have no such restrictions on signing periods in season, despite having a moratorium in the offseason.[12]
In Europe, players can only move during transfer windows—during the close season and halfway through the league season. There are exceptions for unsigned professional players in the lower divisions.
Unrestricted free agent
Unrestricted free agents (UFA) are players not under contract with a team. They have either been released from their club, had the term of their contract expire without a renewal, or were not chosen in a league's draft of amateur players. These people, generally speaking, are free to entertain offers from all other teams in the player's most recent league and elsewhere and to decide with whom to sign a contract. Players who have been bought out of league standard contracts may have restrictions within that league, such as not being able to sign with the buy-out club for a period of time in the NHL, but are otherwise not restricted.
Other terminology
Free agent bust
A free agent bust is a highly touted or highly signed free agent who does not meet expectations. This can be for a variety of reasons such as being unable to adjust to the team's more demanding role, system or scheme of the team or if their time with team was affected by injuries.
NFL
In the NFL, numerous of notable highly touted free agents have signed with other teams, with the tenures being busts. One example is Larry Brown, most known from his two interception game which earned him a Super Bowl MVP award and championship in Super Bowl XXX, signed a five-year, $12.5 million free-agent deal with the Oakland Raiders. Brown played just 12 games with Oakland and then was waived after two seasons with the team.[13] Another well known example is Albert Haynesworth. The highly coveted defensive tackle signed with the Redskins for a seven-year, $100 million deal which ultimately busted with his laziness and ineffectiveness on the team. He was let go after two years.
NFL
See also
- Draft (sports)
References
- Free agency rules Australian Football League, 16 March 2012, retrieved 17 March 2012^
- Steve Springer. Freedom Comes to NFL : Pro football: On first day of free agency, 484 players become eligible to sign with new teams. Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1993, retrieved September 2, 2018^
- Key questions and answers about 2010 NFL free agency