free agency


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free agent

n.
A professional athlete who is free to sign a contract with any team.

free agency n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.free agency - (sports) the state of a professional athlete who is free to negotiate a contract to play for any team
athletics, sport - an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
delegacy, representation, agency - the state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
He manifested in his dog's brain the free agency of life, by which all the generations of metaphysicians have postulated God, and by which all the deterministic philosophers have been led by the nose despite their clear denouncement of it as sheer illusion.
The Templar loses, as thou hast said, his social rights, his power of free agency, but he becomes a member and a limb of a mighty body, before which thrones already tremble, even as the single drop of rain which mixes with the sea becomes an individual part of that resistless ocean, which undermines rocks and ingulfs royal armadas.
Subsequently, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and the NFL agreed in 1977 to a new free agency system with the right of first refusal (in which the original team has the right to hold a player by matching an outside offer) and predetermined compensation for any team losing a free agent.
Dye, Putz, Kearns Just Some Players in Free Agency as Clubs Decline Options (http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3722:dye-putz-kearns-just-some-players-in-free-agency-as-clubs-decline-options&catid=66:free-agency-and-trades&Itemid=153)
A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports By Brad Snyder Viking, October 2006 $25.95, ISBN 0-670-03794-X
Major League Baseball players who file for free agency are motivated to put together a good season before they file (known as their "contract year").
To measure the correlation between the presence of free agency and the competitive environment, we compare the free agency era (1977-present) to the era immediately preceding free agency (1946-76).
A labor arbitrator's ruling following the 1975 season left questionable the legality of the reserve clause and ushered in the era of free agency. (2) The ruling initiated negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement (the Basic Agreement in MLB parlance) between MLB and the players' labor union (Major League Baseball Players Association, MLBPA).
Human suffering arises from two distinct, divinely ordained conditions: the operation of consistent natural laws and human free agency. The first of these, the laws of nature, are morally neutral; the knife used by a criminal does not lose its sharpness the instant its blade is used to assault a victim.
This article argues that the 1976 introduction of free agency increased competitive balance in Major League Baseball.