Clubs once owned players indefinitely until free agency cracked the reserve clause
For much of professional sport's history, a reserve clause let clubs hold on to players for as long as they liked. Free agency, the right to shop yourself to other teams once out of contract, had to be fought for league by league, and in American football eight players took the fight to federal court.
Their target was Plan B, a system the NFL ran from February 1989 to 1992. Each team could protect up to 37 players a season, meaning none of them could move without their old club getting first chance to re-sign them; everyone else was free to negotiate. The eight argued it was an unlawful restraint of trade, and in 1992 a jury agreed, finding antitrust violations and awarding damages. The league's current system began on March 1, 1993.
Today's NFL rules sort players by experience. Four or more seasons of service with an expired contract makes a player unrestricted. With three, he is restricted: other teams can bid, but his old club may match any offer or take draft picks as compensation. Players with two seasons or fewer who receive a qualifying offer must sign it or sit out.
Other leagues tune the dials differently. In Australian rules football, free agency arrived at the end of 2012; players outside their club's top quarter of earners become unrestricted after eight seasons, while the best-paid must wait ten. The NHL lowered its unrestricted age from 31 to 27 between 2005 and 2008, and the National Women's Soccer League only introduced free agency in 2023, after six years of service.
Football has its own twist. A player whose contract expires can join any club without a fee, a free transfer, but anyone released while the transfer window is shut must wait for it to reopen. Sol Campbell left Notts County in September 2009 and trained with Arsenal for months before rejoining them in January 2010.
Source: Free agent
