Headsup... Frenzy RFA Closing Deadline could potentially extend into May

[Preds]

I was just reviewing the rules to see when bidding ends on RFA's.

The rules state the following:

If no other team submits a contract offer on a RFA before April 30th each year or any other predetermined RFA period deadline, the original team tendering the contract will re-acquire that player at the tender contract price. After a player is signed or re-signed, he must be placed under contract before the regular season begins.

In terms of when a player sells, they state:

RFA's will be considered SOLD if a bid survives 48 hours without being increased.

and then on the 72 hour match period

Once a RFA bid is won by another franchise, the original team tendering the RFA contract will have three 3 days (72 hours) to match that offer. If the tendering team declines to match, they will receive a compensatory pick based on the tender round that player received. i.e., if Player A is tendered a 1^st round offer, and that player is not subsequently matched by the tendering team, the tendering team will receive a 1^st Round compensatory pick in the Rookie Draft. If the tendering team subsequently matches the highest offer, they receive no compensation.

My interpretation of the above is that a player still within the 48 hour period after April 30th may continue to be bid upon. The 72 hour match period will not begin until the player sells after not having been increased for 48 hours. This means the RFA period may actually extend into our rookie draft in the 1st week of May. Just a headsup.

Players with no bids before this point will sell on APril 30 at the tender price.

Am I reading this correctly? Just want to make sure we're all on the same page.

[Urza's Ragers]

You can interpret it that way, but I think the intent is different. To me it seems if no bid is put into place for a RFA before the 30th, he is considered sold but I don't see a big deal going either way.

[Nittany Dodgers]

I'd say any player not bid on by April 30 is definitely out of the running. They will sell to the tendering team for the tender price.

Now, those players that are still being bid on is a different animal. My original understanding was that the bidding would close on April 30, and on Midnight May 1, the 72 hour clock started. If you want to interpret it a different way, then fine but we need everyone on the same page.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Urza's Ragers

You can interpret it that way, but I think the intent is different. To me it seems if no bid is put into place for a RFA before the 30th, he is considered sold but I don't see a big deal going either way.

I think you misundertsood me (or I mistated my point), what I meant was that a player already in active bidding but still within the 48 hour period will still be eligible to be bid on past April 30th and into May, with the 48 hour window extended each time the player receives a valid bid.

Players that are not in active bidding, and have no bids before April 30th WILL sell at the tender on April 30th at 11:50pm.

[Urza's Ragers]

Gotcha, good with me. That's the way I understand it. Thanks

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Nittany Dodgers

I'd say any player not bid on by April 30 is definitely out of the running. They will sell to the tendering team for the tender price.

Now, those players that are still being bid on is a different animal. My original understanding was that the bidding would close on April 30, and on Midnight May 1, the 72 hour clock started. If you want to interpret it a different way, then fine but we need everyone on the same page.

Exactly Brian,

Personally I don't care, but I think it's harder to extrapulate that all bidding closes on April 30th at midnight than it is to view it that the player is alive until he goes unbid upon for 48 hours (regardless of the closing date of RFA).

I think the writing of the rule leans much more in favor of the later.

[Nittany Dodgers]

Originally Posted by Preds

Exactly Brian,

Personally I don't care, but I think it's harder to extrapulate that all bidding closes on April 30th at midnight than it is to view it that the player is alive until he goes unbid upon for 48 hours (regardless of the closing date of RFA).

I think the writing of the rule leans much more in favor of the later.

I'd agree, with the exception of this excerpt:

"The RFA Bidding Auctions will begin on April 1 each season and end on April 30th."


This is what primarily lead to my assumption that bidding ended on April 30.

But I agree that is inconsistent with the rest of our bidding rules. Now that I think about it, we had this same issue arise with off season free agency running into in season free agency last year or the year before. Maybe we should see how we handled that.

[Liquid Swords]

either way is fine with me but for some reason i was thinking it was the way Brian explained it (bidding closes to high bidder at midnight May 1 and 72 hour clock begins). i think we should clarify this in the rules as they do seem slightly ambiguous.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Nittany Dodgers

I'd agree, with the exception of this excerpt:

"The RFA Bidding Auctions will begin on April 1 each season and end on April 30th."


This is what primarily lead to my assumption that bidding ended on April 30.

But I agree that is inconsistent with the rest of our bidding rules. Now that I think about it, we had this same issue arise with off season free agency running into in season free agency last year or the year before. Maybe we should see how we handled that.

I just looked at the last 2 years of RFA, we've never had a player carry past the deadline while in active bidding, so there is no past precedent on how we handled it.

I can see it being interpreted both ways, but lean towards the later.

As for the off-Season to In-Season FA, however, we have all bids close at midnight, but it's also specifically stated that way in the rules

9. Off Season Free Agency will end the day after the 3rd Preseason game ends (for most NFL teams). For 2005 that will be on August 29th at 11:59 PM. At that time, all active bids will be finalized. For any player with an active (not yet final) bid, the highest bid to be electronically postmarked (determined by the mail server time-stamp) prior to this time will be declared the winning bid. In Season Free Agency will open the day after.

We have no such statement as that for the RFA period.

[Brain Dead Squirrel Chasers]

Originally Posted by Nittany Dodgers

I'd say any player not bid on by April 30 is definitely out of the running. They will sell to the tendering team for the tender price.

Now, those players that are still being bid on is a different animal. My original understanding was that the bidding would close on April 30, and on Midnight May 1, the 72 hour clock started. If you want to interpret it a different way, then fine but we need everyone on the same page.

I thought the intent was that at the end of the RFA period the highest bid at that time would sell and the tendering team would have 72 hours to match or decline. I agree we need everyone on the same page on this one. I'd perfer all bidding to stop on April 30th so all loose ends are tied up and the RFA period can be closed.

[Nittany Dodgers]

Originally Posted by Preds

I just looked at the last 2 years of RFA, we've never had a player carry past the deadline while in active bidding, so there is no past precedent on how we handled it.

I can see it being interpreted both ways, but lean towards the later.

As for the off-Season to In-Season FA, however, we have all bids close at midnight, but it's also specifically stated that way in the rules We have no such statement as that for the RFA period.
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I think the intent of the RFA rules was the same. I think the question was raised for the off season to in season, and thus the clarification, but we've never had RFAs last this long, so it never came up. I'm not sure if a vote at this point would be prudent, or if we need to have a rules committee clarification for this time around, and then vote on a clarified rule for the future.

[Mutts]

Originally Posted by Brain Dead Squirrel Chasers

I thought the intent was that at the end of the RFA period the highest bid at that time would sell and the tendering team would have 72 hours to match or decline. I agree we need everyone on the same page on this one. I'd perfer all bidding to stop on April 30th so all loose ends are tied up and the RFA period can be closed.

This was my understanding.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Nittany Dodgers

I think the intent of the RFA rules was the same. I think the question was raised for the off season to in season, and thus the clarification, but we've never had RFAs last this long, so it never came up. I'm not sure if a vote at this point would be prudent, or if we need to have a rules committee clarification for this time around, and then vote on a clarified rule for the future.

I think the Rules Committe can handle this, and then we'll vote on how to address it next off-season.

Send me a PM with your thoughts Brian, we also need to get with Jake on this.

[Royal Hawaiian Opihi]

I'm okay with either one... but we'll look forward to a ruling from the Rules Committee, so we'll know ahead of time if this is going to be like EBay or not!

[Preds]

In a unanimous vote, the Board has voted that all RFA bidding will cease at 11:59pm on Saturday April 30th. The player will sell to the highest bidder at the last minute (get your ebay bidding software ready;))!

One note however, if someone strenuously objects to closing the bidding at midnight on the 30th then we will consider keeping the bidding open (depending on the argument made).

If you OBJECT to having all bids close at midnight on the 30th please make your case in this thread over the next 12 hours. Thanks.