1998 RFA Rules/Explanation

[IamQuailman]

Restricted free agency (RFA) works a little bit differently this year than it has in years past, since we are adding the wrinkle of "Sign and Trade" to the mix. Note also that we are moving up the timeline for choosing whether or not to retain restricted rights to happen concurrent with the draft. Pay attention now and do not expect to have a day after the draft to start thinking about RFA rights. Hopefully this thread makes everything clear; if not, please post questions in this thread and we will try to answer them ASAP.

To make this as clear as possible for everyone involved, restricted free agency will work as follows this season:

PHASE 1 - TEAMS CHOOSE WHETHER TO EXERCISE RESTRICTED RIGHTS (Due by the end of the draft)

Every player coming off a rookie scale contract may be designated by his current team as a restricted free agent. A thread will be posted with the list of eligible player(s) if any on each team. You may "Exercise" or "Decline" your RFA rights for each eligible player individually. This thread should be put up later today or possibly tomorrow.

EXERCISING RESTRICTED RIGHTS:
The benefit of choosing to exercise those rights is that you gain the ability to "match" any offer the player agrees to during PHASE 2 of the RFA period.

The second benefit to choosing to exercise those rights is that if the player agrees to sign with another team, you have the option to negotiate with that team to execute a "Sign and Trade" (see Phase 3 below).

The drawback to choosing to exercise these rights is that you are assessed a cap hold DURING PHASE 2 OF RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY ONLY so that you cannot use all of your cap space to bid on another team's free agents AND use your restricted rights to retain your own.

The second drawback to choosing to exercise restricted rights it that a player signed during restricted free agency may not be traded until full season has passed (i.e., after the next RFA period) except as detailed in the "Sign and Trade" section below.

DECLINING RESTRICTED RIGHTS:
The benefit of choosing to decline those rights is that your team will have its full cap amount to bid on other teams' Free Agents.

A second benefit is that anyone who signs that player may be traded as normal (i.e., the player is not "locked out" of trading for one season as an RFA signing is).

The drawback to declining restricted rights is that you lose the right to match the player's salary if another team signs him.

Example 1: Team A has a restricted free agent, Player X. The cap hold associated with Player X is 5 million dollars. If Team A has 7 million dollars of cap space, but chooses to exercise their restricted rights with respect to Player X, they would be assessed a hold of 5 million dollars during Phase 2 (Bidding), reducing their maximum bid at that time only to 2 million dollars.

Example 2: Team B has a restricted free agent, Player Y. The cap hold associated with Player Y is also 5 million dollars. If Team B has 7 million dollars of cap space, but chooses to decline their restricted rights with respect to Player Y, no hold is assessed. They will have a maximum bid of 7 million dollars during Phase 2 (bidding). Player Y becomes an unrestricted free agent and is not bid on during Phase 2 of RFA - he is instead bid on during "normal" free agency.

PHASE 2 - BIDDING (at least 24 hours, probably due at 5 pm Central the day after the draft finishes)

At the beginning of the bidding phase, the list of Restricted Free Agents (players whose team has chosen to exercise RFA rights with) will be listed, along with a list of each team's cap space after accounting for cap holds for their own restricted Free Agents. Except for the "reduced cap space" due to cap holds, all normal Free Agency rules apply in terms of bid amounts (you may offer any number of years and any starting bid amount and any legal year-over-year raise figure) except that no one-year deals may be offered (deals must be 2 or more years in length). Incumbent teams are permitted to bid on their own Free Agents if they so wish (to offer, for example, a 5 year max deal)

Players whose teams elected to decline "restricted" status during Phase 1 become part of the unrestricted free agent pool and are not bid on during this phase of Free Agency.

Bids FOR RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS ONLY are submitted via Private Message to the commissioner (Darth Vegito) or his designee (in the thread there will be explicit instructions on whom to send bids to). You may bid any amount up to the normal maximum for a player with 3 years of service (see http://pbsl.ijbl.net/check.htm if you need help computing this). Each team may submit a maximum of 10 bids.

At the close of this phase, cap holds are removed.

While your cap space may place an upper limit on the amount of money you can offer to any one free agent (if you have less cap space than a potential maximum deal), it does not otherwise constrain the total amount you may offer.

Example 3: Team C has 6 million in cap space but the maximum deal possible by salary cap is 8 million dollars. Team D may only offer deals starting at 6 million to Free Agents from other teams; however, they may offer up to ten of these deals (though only one can be accepted because as soon as it is accepted, their cap space will be reduced and their other offers will be voided).

During the FBB simulation process of players deciding where to sign, once a player chooses to sign a deal, that amount is applied to the team's cap and any other offers that have a base salary exceeding the new cap figure are automatically and immediately voided.

Example 4: Team D has 10 million in cap space. They may offer two deals starting at 6 million dollars each to Player M and Player N; this is legal because even though the total of their offers is 12 million (more than their cap space), neither deal individually exceeds the cap. If Player N signs a deal, their cap space is immediately reduced to 4 million dollars; since the offered Player M more than this, their offer to Player M is immediately voided.

PHASE 3 - CHOOSING TO ACCEPT, DECLINE, OR SIGN & TRADE (24 hours from bid deadline or until all choices are in, whichever comes first)

After all bids are received, they are input into FBB's free agency engine. Free Agency phases are run in FBB to determine which restricted free agents choose to sign with which teams and for what contract amounts. The results (winning teams, amounts, and years) are noted and published on the site.

The "incumbent team" (the team that chose to accept a cap hold to retain restricted rights) has 24 hours to do one of the following three options by posting in the RFA choice thread that will be created with the winning bids - the poster should note which player they are making the choice on. Choices may be edited and changed until the deadline (usually 5 pm Central), when the thread will be locked.

OPTION ONE - "ACCEPT"

The incumbent team chooses to match the winning bid. The player remains with his incumbent team and the contract is transferred to the incumbent team. The original "winning team" gets nothing (other than getting their cap space back for regular free agency). The player may not be traded for a full year (i.e., until after the next RFA period),

If the incumbent team submits the winning bid (e.g., a 5-year max), this option is automatically the option selected (and the player is not eligible to be traded for a full year).

OPTION TWO - "DECLINE"

The incumbent team chooses not to match the winning bid. The player moves to the team that signed him and the incumbent team receives no compensation. The player may not be traded for a full year (i.e., until after the next RFA period).

This is considered the default option if no other post is made in the RFA Choice thread by the deadline.

OPTION THREE - "SIGN AND TRADE"

The incumbent team may choose to negotiate a trade with the team that submitted the winning bid. The trade must be legal (i.e., cannot violate salary cap rules and cannot involve players that were traded during the draft* as they have not been on the squad for 60 days).

Both parties must post consent to the trade in the Finalized Trade Forum prior to the deadline to choose to accept, decline, or sign and trade. Once both teams have posted in the Finalized Trade Forum, either team may post (and one team SHOULD post) "Sign and Trade" in the RFA Choice thread and link to the Finalized Trade thread to help the staff find it. The Finalized Trade thread's timestamps (both owners approvals) will be the determinant as to whether or not the trade made the deadline, not the timestamp of the post in the RFA choice thread (for those of you cutting it close).

A posted Finalized Trade thread with both parties' approval trumps both "Accept" and "Decline" posts made in the main RFA Choice thread.

The Restricted Free Agent cannot be traded for one full year following this "Sign and Trade." Any other players that happen to be involved in such a trade may be traded after 60 days as normal.

Example 5: Team E wins the RFA bidding for Player P, who plays with Team F. Team E and Team F agree to do a Sign and Trade of Player P for Player Q. Player P (the RFA) may not be traded away from Team E for a full year. Player Q may be traded away from Team F after 60 days.

* A draft pick traded to a team prior to the team making the selection in the draft is not considered a "player traded" for the purposes of this rule. A player that was drafted and then traded - even if traded immediately after drafting - is.