Restricted free agent

A restricted free agent is a type of free agent in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the terms under which they can retain or change employment status with their athletic club teams.

NFL

In the National Football League, a restricted free agent (RFA) is one with three accrued seasons (six or more regular season games with a team) of service, who has received a "qualifying" offer (a salary level predetermined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players, known as a "tender") from his current club. He can negotiate with any club through a certain date. If the restricted free agent accepts an offer sheet from a new club, his old club has "right of first refusal," a five-day period in which it may match the offer and retain him, or choose not to match the offer, in which case it may receive one or more draft picks for the upcoming draft from the player's new club. If an offer sheet is not executed, the player's rights revert to his old club the day after negotiations must end.

NBA salary cap

The NBA salary cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed to pay their players. Like many professional sports leagues, the NBA has a salary cap to control costs, defined by the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA). This limit is subject to a complex system of rules and exceptions and as such is considered a "soft" cap.

The actual amount of the salary cap varies from year to year, and is calculated as a percentage of the league's revenue from the previous season; for instance, the cap for the 2007–08 season was approximately US $55.6 million per team, and in 2008–09 it was $58.68 million. Under the CBA ratified in December 2011, the cap will continue to vary in future seasons based on league revenues; for the 2014–15 season, the salary cap was $63.065 million and the luxury tax limit was $76.8 million.

History

The NBA had a salary cap in the mid-1940s, but it was abolished after only one season. The league continued to operate without such a cap until 1984–85, when one was instituted in an attempt to level the playing field among all of the NBA's teams and ensure competitive balance for the League in the future. Before the cap was reinstated, teams could spend whatever amount of money they wanted on players, but in the first season under the new cap, they were each limited to $3.6 million in total payroll.

Free agent

In professional sports, free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with any club or franchise, i.e. not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present, but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules.

Types

Terms

Unrestricted free agent

Unrestricted free agents are players without 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 and to decide with whom to sign a contract.

Restricted free agent

The specific rules of restricted free agency vary among the major professional sports, but in principle it means that a player is free to solicit contract offers from other teams; however, this player cannot sign with the competing club if the current club matches (or in some leagues come within 10%) the terms of the offered contract. For a restricted free agent, some leagues require the competing team to offer up to the original team a draft pick(s) when an offer is not matched, as compensation for losing the player.

Free agent (disambiguation)

A free agent is an athlete whose contract with a team has expired, leaving the individual free to sign for another team.

Free agent or FreeAgent may also refer to:

Music

Television

Other uses

See also

Free agent (business)

In business, a free agent refers to someone who works independently for oneself, rather than for a single employer. These include self-employed workers, freelancers, independent contractors and temporary workers, who altogether represent about 44 percent of the U.S. labor force. The term free agent is believed to have been coined by Daniel H. Pink, author of a 1997 cover story in Fast Company titled “Free Agent Nation.” In 2001 Pink published a book with the same name. The combination of several workplace trends – including shortened job cycles, the increase of project work, the acceptance of a new lifestyle and the emergence of the Internet and other technology – points to free agent workers becoming more of an employment norm in the coming years. In a 2011 survey sponsored by Kelly Services, a global workforce solutions company, free agency is on the rise across all generations, with mature workers making up two-thirds of the free agent population. The survey also revealed that 73% of free agents voluntarily choose this workstyle because they seek the freedom, flexibility and entrepreneurial benefits associated with an independent workstyle.