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202 Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law / Vol. 13
Introduction
From a labor and employment law perspective, the story of professional
sports in the United States has been a slow but steady movement toward
athlete free agency.
1
The evolution has, to be sure, been uneven, and restric-
tions still remain.
2
And the path has varied across the three major team
sports of baseball, football, and basketball.
3
Nonetheless, the landscape has
shifted significantly since the early years of professional sports.
4
1
See generally Paul C. Weiler, et Al., Sports and the Law: Text, Cases
and Problems (6th ed. 2020).
2
First-round draftees in the NFL get four-year contracts with a fifth-year team
options, while picks from the second through seventh rounds get four-year con-
tracts; NBA rookie contracts last two years, with team options for a third and fourth
years; MLB rookie contracts are six years. See Nat’l Football League & Nat’l
Football League Players Ass’n, Collective Bargaining Agreement 27 (March
15, 2020), available at https://nflpaweb.blob.core.windows.net/website/PDFs/CBA/
March-15-2020-NFL-NFLPA-Collective-Bargaining-Agreement-Final-Executed-
Copy.pdf [https://perma.cc/UF4B-8CAL]; Nat’l Basketball Players Ass’n,
Collective Bargaining Agreement 265 (Jan. 19, 2017), available at https://
nbpa.com/cba [https://perma.cc/S5QA-LZRC]; MLB Collective Bargaining
Agreement 92 (December 1, 2016), available at https://www.mlbplayers.com/cba.
This article cites the previous MLB collective bargaining agreement. At the time of
writing, MLB and its players union recently agreed to a new collective bargaining
agreement. See Mark Feinsand, MLB, MLBPA Agree to New CBA; Season to Start
April 7, MLB (Mar. 10, 2022), https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-to-cba
[https://perma.cc/AM5R-DGF7].
3
The big three sports in the United States outpace all other sports in annual
revenue, with Premier League Soccer, Indian Premier League Cricket, and the Na-
tional Hockey League a step behind. See, e.g., Bradley Geiser, America Only Has 4 of
the Most Profitable Sports Leagues in the World, Sportscasting (April 11, 2020),
https://www.sportscasting.com/america-only-has-4-of-the-most-profitable-sports-
leagues-in-the-world/ [https://perma.cc/R9QT-NWCJ]. Indeed, in 2021, NFL foot-
ball accounted for 75 of the top 100 most viewed live television broadcasts.
Anthony Crupi, NFL Games Account for 75 of the 100 Most-Watched Broadcasts of
2021, Sportico (Jan. 7, 2022), https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2022/nfl-
games-account-for-75-of-the-100-most-watched-broadcasts-of-2021-1234657845/
[https://perma.cc/89QY-AXJ8]. Baseball players receive free agency after six years,
but are eligible for arbitration after three. See MLB Collective Bargaining
Agreement, supra note 2, at 18, 92. Football players become free agents after four
R
years unless the team exercises a fifth-year option. See NFL Collective Bargain-
ing Agreement, supra note 2, at 27. Basketball players become free agents after two
R
years unless the team exercises its third-year option. See NBA Collective Bar-
gaining Agreement, supra note 2, at 265. The team can also exercise a fourth-year
R
option, keeping the player from free agency until after his fourth year. Id.
4
The decline of baseball’s reserve clause is perhaps most emblematic of this
change. See, e.g., Jeff Martindale & Carolyn Lehr, Two Strikes: A History and Analysis