Major League Lacrosse’s player movement has always been drastically different than that of the National Lacrosse League. While players can be traded in the NLL, free agents are also welcome to sign with any team of their choosing once they hit their free agency period.
Brief History
Free agency in sports began in the 1970s when Major League Baseball abolished its reserve clause and allowed its players to change teams as their own “free agent” once they hit a certain amount of service time. Free agency reshaped baseball drastically, as it gave players more leverage in their contracts and salaries skyrocketd, but it also changed the structure of teams. For example, Reggie Jackson of Oakland Athletics stardom changed the balance in the American League by signing with the New York Yankees.
Every other pro sport has free agency of some sort. Its what creates a competitive balance. You don’t have to draft and develop your entire team (though, that’s more cost effective). Lacrosse is a small sport, and largely determined by geographics of players, as I looked at last week with the Toronto Rock. Is the NLL a players league? Yes, of course it is. But to an extent, so is the National Basketball Association.
How It Has Been
Major League Lacrosse is a single owned entity since 2001, and players have been paid by the league, not individual teams. There has also never been free agency, but instead a player pool. That means that at the end of each season, all eight (now nine) MLL teams would have to “protect” several of their players at the end of the year, a la expansion draft style.
That means teams would have plenty of changes in their rosters, but players would have no choice in where they ended up when drafted. Now, after a player has played at least five years with one team, they can become a free agent.
Players signing from the player pool previously could only sign a one year deal, and now they can have multiple years on their contracts. Instead of a team automatically keeping the rights of a player when the contract expires, the player will now have the opportunity to explore other offers.
Players Choosing Markets
In all sports, free agency helps players decide where they want to sign. In the NLL, most of the Ontario players sign with Toronto, British Columbia players in Vancouver, and American players in New England. Even in the NBA, several players have chosen markets (which is how the Miami Heat mini dynasty attempt occurred).
Last season Logan Schuss didn’t play in the NLL until he was traded from Minnesota to Vancouver. Paul Rabil held out when he was traded to Edmonton until he could get to Philadelphia. Casey Powell held out in Rochester to get to Colorado. However, all of these were based off of trades, and teams had almost no leverage because they had to get rid of players. Free agency wouldn’t create more hold outs, because players would be able to know they could end up in the market of their choosing eventually.
(Note: this is why the Anthony Cosmo trade to Buffalo for three first round picks will still never make any sense to me).
“Our sport will continue to benefit from this change as more players will have the opportunity to impact the lacrosse market they live in like we have seen Scott Ratliff do in Atlanta, the Bocklets do in Denver and Casey Powell do in Florida.” Ryan Flanagan, member of the MLL players council, said in the press release. “The ability for players to sign long-term contracts with organizations encourages players to become more involved in their local lacrosse markets which will continue to benefit the fan and our sport.”
In MLL now, players still have somewhat of an impact in choosing markets despite not as many hold outs. Scott Ratliff wanted to be in Atlanta and the Boston Cannons were forced to trade him there. The Cannons got a good return, and this example has been used several times on social media as an argument against free agency. However, that argument doesn’t really work.
Longer contracts prevent new veteran players from opting out every year. Think of rookie deals as 5yr deals now where the team can cut you
— Ryan Flanagan (@RyanFlanagan24) February 3, 2016
The concern is a team like the Cannons would lose Ratliff for nothing if he were a free agent and signed in Atlanta. However, since he has not been in the league for five years, he wouldn’t have been able to yet, and the Cannons would still have just as little leverage since it would have become a hold out situation.
The multi year deals for players will be similar to NFL deals, where they are not guaranteed contracts.
How Teams Are Affected
Just like in MLB, teams losing players to free agency are still compensated. From the league’s press release:
If a player decides to not renew their current League contract with their team at the end of the season, they will sign a document expressing their intent to look into relocation. If a player signs a League contract with a new team, his previous team will receive compensatory draft picks in order to maintain the League’s competitive balance. The number and value of draft picks will be determined by the League.
If the league decides how many draft picks, it might become a Type A and Type B type of situation like we’ve seen in baseball before the league went to qualifying deals.
After championship weekend, the league will inform the teams of which players have expiring contracts. Players will have a month to re-sign with their teams before signing a contract declaring their intent to find a new market. They will have until the Supplemental Draft date to sign with a new team before being allowed to be protected by their original team.
It’s not like teams in prime markets like Chesapeake and New York can claim any players they want, since they have a limit to how much they can spend on players as it is. That means they can’t welcome every local player that they want to their teams either, and key players will still be available for smaller markets.
