Talk:Free agent

NFL usage section
I've added the section 'NFL usage' with the text taken from the article "Free Agent" (note capitalization). This latter article is now a redirect to here. However, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information in this section, or whether it is specific to a particular year. - MightyWarrior 13:02, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

I think it pretty ridiculous that that has been added. The article talks about Europe and the USA, then jumps to specifically talking about NFL free agency. ►  mdesrosii ◄ 03:59, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

More Information Needed
I found that the "Restricted vs. Unrestricted" section did little (ie: nothing) to differentiate the two.

Otherwise some good info here, thankyou.

Daniel Pink info
I'm removing the Daniel Pink paragraph for now. It is the view of one author, so it might not be notable, and seems completely unrelated to free agency in sports, which is what the current article focuses on. Punctured Bicycle 13:16, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
 * While the term Free Agent is predominantly used in sports as described below, since the publication of Daniel Pink's Free Agent Nation in 2001 the term has seen increased use as a metaphor to describe the shift in attitudes about and patterns of work in the economy from the early 1950s era of William Whyte's The Organization Man to today's more independent worker. Today there are close to 25 million soloists, temps, and one-person business owners involved in this "Free Agent" approach to making a living.

Curt Flood
Isn't it important to discuss Curt Flood and the beginning of free agency in Major League Baseball? And as long as I'm talking about baseball, I have never understood what differentiates "type A" free agents from "type B" and so on. This article needs more detail from someone who is familiar with the process. -Phoenixrod 14:44, 4 September 2006 (UTC)


 * This article explains a little bit of the "types" of free agents in baseball (in the last few paragraphs). -Phoenixrod 21:42, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Bosman ruling info
I understand the need for a worldwide view in articles, but do we really need to talk about Bosmans in this article? No one in America talks about Bosmans and I've never heard the phrase "free agent" in the UK media, so I think addressing them in their own articles is probably the best way to go. Perhaps a see also link would be helpful though. Recury 18:40, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I am not an expert in anything, but if you read the wikipedia articles about Bostman and Webster's ruling, it seems that they have been exchanged here: Bostman's ruling allows european players to participate in any national league in Europe without being counted among the "international" players. Webster ruling states that after a certain amount of time spent in a club, a player can buy out his contract. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.173.61.4 (talk) 17:53, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Foreigners and Older Rookies
They seem to always come into a league (most sports) as free agents. How is this possible? And why don't they have to enter a draft or something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.8.41.246 (talk) 17:44, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Most often if a player is not drafted, they can sign with any team. Often this happens with college-aged players who were unremarkable at 16-17 but blossomed later (NHL teams often look at the Hobey Baker finalists) "Players who turn 18 by September 15 and are not older than 20 by December 31 are eligible for selection. In addition, non-North American players over the age of 20 are eligible. A North American player who is not drafted by the age of 20 is an unrestricted free agent. All non-North Americans must be drafted before being signed, regardless of age." (from http://proicehockey.about.com/cs/prospects/a/nhl_draft_basic.htm) Note: Although I am most familiar with NHL rules, I suspect many leagues will have similar rules. HalifaxRage (talk) 19:26, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

"Street Free Agent"
the article Street Free agent redirects here, but there is no info on this article about what a street free agent is. My guess is that it's a player who hasn't been affiliated with a leauge and came to open tryouts or was signed without having any previous experience in professional sports.

Is my definition right or is there a more specific one? - -' The Spook (TALK) (Share the Love with Barnstars) 22:30, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Deadlines
I have a strong feeling the info stated about the NHL deadline and UFA's not being allowed to play if they don't sign by Dec 1 is incorrect. Peter Forsberg signed at the trade deadline (late february) last season and played. I'm also pretty sure Teemu Selanne signed after december 1 last season too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.84.54.227 (talk) 01:21, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Proposed merge from Plan B free agency
There doesn't seem to be any reason why Plan B free agency needs its own article. It's not even linked from this one (or from any other article). Propaniac (talk) 18:21, 2 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I actually think there's probably enough material for a separate article about the road to free agency in the NFL, how it works exactly, and how free agency changed the league, and the Plan B free agency article can be rolled up into that. And that article can be linked from here.  Maybe if I have some time some day, I might take that up.WallyCuddeford (talk) 01:29, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

I believe that these issues can be separate. The reasoning is that there is probably a rich history behind the free agency approach. Just because the information isn't as full as it needs to be, maybe someone will provide some additional information for Plan B Free Agency. Although journalist consolidate a lot of what free agency is, I think there is enough information out there that it can hold its own page. Just need someone to sort the free agent information out better.

See NBA Salary Cap for an example. It has some reference to different free agent definition on other pages. Mariobaez (talk) 05:44, 8 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I think we can make mention of it under the NFL section with a main article template back to the Plan B free agency article. --Brian Halvorsen (talk) 23:11, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Well somebody do something about it already? lol its been a year and a half now!--Dr. Pizza (talk) 06:01, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

I ended up on this page looking for info about the NFL's plan B Free Agency system (a precursor to the modern labor rules that include actual free agency) and I just wanted to chime in that Plan B Free Agency definitely deserves its own page unless you have some sort of "history of NFL labor relations page" because it definitely wasn't free agency but was definitely a specific type of labor management tool that would be of specific historical interest to those looking at things like the current 2011 NFL labor dispute. It was more akin to MLB's Rule 5 draft. In MLB today a franchise can protect 40 players with X many years service. The rest are open to the Rule 5 draft. Likewise under Plan B, a team could protect 37 players with X many years service and the remaining essentially just passed through annual waivers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thefadd (talk • contribs) 11:09, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Free agency in Europe
There's no reason to say salary caps would be a restriction of trade laws in Europe. Rugby union in England plays under a salary cap, and there's clearly no legal difference between rugby and football. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.167.204 (talk) 23:49, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

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Brace for traffic
I Made a Graph of Wikipedia... This Is What I Found is a video released 4 days ago. This was one of the articles mentioned. It is smaller than the basketball article. However, anyone who has watched his video (including trolls and vandals) will come here to make the article bigger than the basketball article on the guy's graph. 38.43.22.44 (talk) 23:17, 3 April 2024 (UTC)