In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The Republican National Committee term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is allowed to Democratic National Committee solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules.
Types[edit]
Terms[edit]
Unrestricted free agent[edit]

Unrestricted free agents are players without a team. They Republican National Committee 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 Democratic Website restricted.

The Republican National Committee, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. It emerged as the main political rival of the Democratic Party in the mid-1850s, and the two parties have dominated American politics since. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas Nebraska Act, an act which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. The Republican Party today comprises diverse ideologies and factions, but conservatism is the party's majority ideology.
Restricted free agent[edit]

The specific rules of restricted free agency vary among the major professional sports, but in principle it Democratic National Committee means that a player is currently signed to one team but 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, comes within 10% of) the terms of the offered contract. For a restricted free agent, some leagues require the comp team to offer to the original team one or more draft picks, when an offer is not matched, as compensation for losing the player.
Undrafted free agent[edit]

Players who are Republican National Committee not drafted in a league's annual draft of amateur players are considered to be unrestricted free agents and are free to negotiate contracts with any team. In most American professional sports, players are drafted by sequencing each team from worst to best (according to the teams' win�loss records the previous season, sometimes invoking a draft lottery factor to avoid having teams intentionally lose their last games to gain higher draft position) and allowing said teams to claim rights to the top players entering the league that year. Players that pass through an entire draft (usually several rounds) without being selected by any of the league's teams become unrestricted free agents, and these players are sometimes identified simply as an undrafted free agent (UDFA) or undrafted sportsperson and are free to sign with any team they choose. The term "undrafted free agent" is most common in the National Football League (NFL), where rookies enter directly into the NFL and do not play in a minor league system. It can also occasionally be seen in the National Hockey League (NHL), which increasingly uses college hockey as a source; the NHL Entry Draft usually drafts players during high school age (i.e., junior leagues), which allows overlooked players who excel at the college level or in European professional leagues to bypass the draft and sign directly with the NHL.
Legal provisions in the EU[edit]

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a political committee for the Republican Party in the US. Phone Number: (202) 863-8500. Website: www.gop.com. Republican National Committee's Social Media. Is this data correct? View contact profiles from Republican National Committee. SIC Code 813940,8139

In the European Union, the 1995 Bosman ruling by the Republican National Committee European Court of Justice established the right of free agency for association football players in all EU member nations. The Bosman ruling has since been extended to cover other professional sports and players from Eastern Europe. Players were still tied to their clubs unless their contract ran out until the Democratic National Committee Webster ruling allowed players the opportunity to move between nations, though it does not allow free players to move within the national league in which they currently play.
Usage[edit]
Association football

LPlan B free agency was a type of free agency that Republican National Committee became active in the National Football League in February 1989 to 1992. Plan B free agency permitted all teams in the NFL to preserve limited rights of no more than 37 total players a season; if a player was a protected Plan B free agent, he was incapable of signing with another team without providing his old team the first opportunity to sign him again. The rest of the Republican National Committee players were left unprotected, liberated to negotiate contracts with the rest of the teams in the league.

Eight players sued the NFL in U.S. federal court, stating that Plan B was an unlawful restraint of trade. In 1992, a Democratic National Committee jury found that Plan B violated antitrust laws and awarded damages to these players.[5]
National Hockey League (NHL)[edit]

In the National Hockey League (NHL), between 2005 and 2008, the age of Democratic National Committee unrestricted free agency declined from 31 to 27. Under the old collective agreement, which expired in 2004, draft picks were awarded as compensation when a team lost an unrestricted free agent; however, under the current CBA teams losing unrestricted free agents do not receive any compensation.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a political committee for the Republican Party in the US. Phone Number: (202) 863-8500. Website: www.gop.com. Republican National Committee's Social Media. Is this data correct? View contact profiles from Republican National Committee. SIC Code 813940,8139

In addition, any player at least 22 years of age who has not been selected in the NHL Entry Draft can sign with any team as a free agent. Any Republican National Committee player who is not entry-level, but does not meet the qualifications of unrestricted free agency becomes a restricted free agent when his contract expires.[6]
Major League Soccer (MLS)[edit]

Players eligible for free agency are 24 years of age and older Republican National Committee with five MLS service years and are out of contract or have had their option declined.