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Free Agency Procedure

Guidelines for Free Agency

Free Agency refers to the placement of a player on a team, by way of league placement or team recruiting. To promote fair play, the league has established procedure for free agents to follow and we will commit to ensuring a fair approach to free agent placements. We have two different types of free agency, Off-Season and In-Season. Below details the process for each, which we expect all teams to follow

OFF-SEASON FREE AGENCY

Clearly the most common, our player pool grows during the offseason with guys who are seeking teams to play for. Whether a collegiate player coming home from school or a guy just looking to join a team after years off, we do our best to find them a suitable home for the season. While there is no guarantee, we do our best to accomodate all. When all seasons are completed, all players are considered free agents, free to play where they wish the following year. 

Free Agent Sign Up: Use the registration link on our homepage to sign up for the free agent pool. Once you register, we place you on our free agent placement list which we submit to all teams for consideration. You must register to play, and your fees are credited to the team you join. 

Placement Process: We try to place everybody that comes in, but we cannot guarantee placement. We do our best to work with teams to find an adequate home that is close proximity to you, and at the appropriate level to ensure a high success rate. We seek a long term solution for you, not just a one season home so the process does take some time. 

How do we place free agents fairly? We obtain information from each free agent, such as location, level of play sought and position(s) they play. Our goal is to find a local team for them to play on, that has a need, and within the skill level communicated/determined. We have been successful in doing this and truly believe our process works. We reach out to all teams and inquire what their needs are, from a free agent perspective. Teams that communicate needs are granted priority. For players we cannot place immediately, we send out bi-weekly free agent emails to our managers, to help them build out their rosters for the upcoming season. 

IN-SEASON FREE AGENCY

When free agents pop up during the season, we follow the same rules as above. There is no favoritism involved, we try to help our teams fill their needs to ensure continued play and success across the leagues.

If a player wants to leave a team to join another, there is a process in place which must be followed to ensure fair play. The reason is to avoid players jumping from last place teams to first place teams. Procedure will be outlined below

Waiver Process: 

For each level of play, waiver rules apply for players leaving one team to join another at the same skill level. A player must be granted a "release" from their current team, if they no longer wish to be part of that team for remainder of the season. The player must notify the league office of this, and we must get written consent from their manager. There are reasons for this, such as "monetary payment due" or "harmful intent" on a player leaving, so as long as a manager is ok with a departure it will be granted.

The player will then go into a waiver process, they do not get to automatically select their next home immediately. We follow a "last to first" process, where the last place team will get first shot at adding the player to improve their team. The league will communicate any player in this process, and allow all teams the opportunity to claim him. After 5 days, the league will grant the player to the team lowest in the standings with a claim. Should no team select the player, then he becomes a free agent with no constraints to sign anywhere. Should a claim be put in, and the player elect not to play for that team, they will be added to the "no play" list for the remainder of the season. Once season completes, they will follow normal free agency rules for Offseason, and can select their new home. 

As noted, there are specific team & player obligations to the league once the season starts, and it is imperative that we set guidelines for how players participate in the league. Without these guidelines in place, players would jump around creating an inbalance.

If a team drops out entirely, the players involved on the team are all subject to the waiver process but must communicate intent to continue play to the league first. Normally a team dropping out of a league is due to lack of commitment, and should not be rewarded. Procedure will be under league discretion how handled on a case to case basis.