All players in the SICHL sign contracts and are paid funds that are deducted from their team's financial reserves.
Players whose contracts expire ('0' years remaining) are eligible to become free agents. Depending on a player's age, teams may reserve the right to re-sign the player, or risk losing the player to an open-market bidding system where the player will sign with the highest bidder. Also depending on the player's age, the team losing the player may or may not receive compensation.
Players who have been drafted by an SICHL team must sign an entry level contract upon being rated for the first time. The only team eligible to sign a player to an entry level contract is the team that owns the player's rights. All entry level contracts are three years in duration (see 3.2.7 Contract Durations).
Entry level contracts are determined by the round of the entry draft the player was drafted in.
| Round | Contract |
|---|---|
| 1 | $950,000/year |
| 2 | $900,000/year |
| 3 | $850,000/year |
| 4 | $800,000/year |
| 5 | $750,000/year |
| 6 | $700,000/year |
| 7 | $650,000/year |
| 8 | $600,000/year |
| 9 | $550,000/year |
| 10-12 | $450,000/year |
No player may be signed to an SICHL contract until they are rated. Non-rated players will be placed on their team's prospect list and the team will be charged a "prospect fee" of approximately $1,000/yr.
The MINIMUM amount that a player will re-sign for is based on their OV rating at the time of the free agency period. Restricted Free Agents (see 3.2.3 Restricted Free Agents) and Franchise Players (see 3.2.5 Franchise Players) may sign for more, based on player-specific circumstances.
| Rating | Minimum Signing Salary |
|---|---|
| 80+ OV | $7,000,000 |
| 78-79 OV | $5,500,000 |
| 75-77 OV | $4,250,000 |
| 72-74 OV | $2,750,000 |
| 69-71 OV | $1,500,000 |
| 65-68 OV | $1,000,000 |
| 60-64 OV | $875,000 |
| 55-59 OV | $650,000 |
| <55 OV | $450,000 |
The league minimum salary for ANY player is $450,000.
Restricted free agents (RFAs), are free agents who are younger than 31 years of age (in SICHL years - see 1.2.2.3 Player Age) for the new season about to begin (when the free agency period occurs).
With RFAs, teams may: (1) extend the player's contract by re-signing the player to a pre-defined raise or minimum re-signing salary, (2) make a qualifying offer to the player, or (3) sever ties with the player.
Teams may re-sign RFAs with raises determined by a combination of the player's previous salary and his new OV rating received during off season re-rates.
The table below indicates the desired percentage raise over a player's previous salary in relation to the player's new OV rating. The player will sign for either the percentage raise value, or the minimum signing salary value, whichever is GREATER. Note: an "x" indicates that the player will re-sign based on the Minimum Re-Signing Salaries table (see 3.2.2) - no math required.
| Previous Salary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | $749,999 or less | $750,000 - $1,499,999 | $1,500,000 – 4,999,999 | $5,000,000 or more |
| 80+ OV | x | x | x | 20% |
| 78-79 OV | x | x | 55% | 20% |
| 75-77 OV | x | x | 50% | 10% |
| 72-74 OV | x | 110% | 40% | 5% |
| 69-71 OV | 125% | 95% | 30% | 0% |
| 65-68 OV | 105% | 75% | 20% | 0% |
| 60-64 OV | 75% | 50% | 10% | 0% |
| < 60 OV | 15% | 5% | 0% | 0% |
E.g. Player A made $950,000 in the final year of his contract and is rated 77 OV after re-rates. The matrix determines that the player will demand a 120% raise ($1,140,000), for a value of $2,090,000. However, as a 77 OV rated player, the minimum that he will extend for as per 3.2.2 Minimum Signing Salary is: $4,250,000.
If a team chooses not to extend the contract of an RFA (see 3.2.3.1 Extending Contracts), but wishes to retain the player's rights, the team may make a qualifying offer to the player. A qualifying offer must be worth, at minimum, 75% of the player's previous annual salary. Upon signing the qualifying offer, the player will enter the bidding process with an opening bid equal to the qualifying offer + $1 (see 3.2.6 The Bidding Process).
When the bidding process is complete, the team holding the player's rights can either match the winning offer's amount and term, or receive compensation from the team that won the bidding in the form of draft picks (see 3.2.3.2.1 Compensation). In the case of a match, the length of the contract may be shortened for players nearing SICHL age 31 (see 3.2.7 Contract Durations)
If the player did not receive any bids during the bidding process, he will re-sign with the team owning his rights for one year at the amount of the qualifying offer.
Any team that loses an RFA to another team via the bidding process is entitled to draft pick compensation from the new team. The draft pick compensation scale is based on the annual salary offered by the new team.
| Salary Offer | Compensation |
|---|---|
| $5,500,001 or more | Three first-round picks. |
| $4,500,001 - $5,500,000 | Two first-round picks and one second-round pick. |
| $3,500,001 - $4,500,000 | Two first-round picks. |
| $2,500,001 - $3,500,000 | First- and second-round pick. |
| $1,500,000 - $2,500,000 | First-round pick. |
| $1,000,001 - $1,499,999 | Second-round pick. |
| $750,001 - $1,000,000 | Third-round pick. |
| $750,000 or below | No compensation. |
Compensation must be paid within the number of years of picks awarded plus two years, and will be awarded in the shortest time frame possible, with higher picks being awarded first if possible. No more than one pick will be lost per entry draft per compensatory package. No picks acquired by trade may be used as compensation.
E.g. If the awarded compensation is two first and one second round draft picks, for a total of three picks, the compensation must be paid within the next five years.
Note: Any team unable to pay the draft pick compensation required for a winning bid as specified by the above guidelines will forfeit all RFA bids in the current FA group and the player is awarded to the team with the next highest bid. The team's bids on UFAs would still be valid, however.
If a team chooses not to extend the contract of a RFA (see 3.2.3.1 Extending Contracts), nor wishes to retain the player's rights (see 3.2.3.2 Qualifying Offers), the team may choose to sever ties with the player. In this scenario, the player will enter the bidding process as a UFA, and no compensation will be awarded to the team losing the player (see 3.2.6 The Bidding Process).
Unrestricted free agents, (UFAs), are players who are 31 years of age or older (in SICHL years - see 1.2.2.3 Player Age) for the season when the free agency period, all RFAs that were not tendered qualifying offers from their previous teams, and all players on the unassigned players list after the amateur draft.
With UFAs, teams may either re-sign the player by applying the Franchise tag to the player (see 3.2.5 Franchise Players), or risk losing the player in the bidding process for no compensation (see 3.2.6 The Bidding Process).
The team that tenders the winning bid for a UFA must pay a portion of the winning bid up front as a signing bonus (see 3.2.4.1 Signing Bonuses). The amount paid as a signing bonus will be deducted from the total value of the contract.
All UFAs signed will receive an up-front signing bonus, which is then deducted from the total value of the contract, as per the following matrix.
| 75+ | 74-70 | 69-65 | 64-60 | < 60 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of 1yr. deal | 25% | 20% | 15% | 10% | 0% |
| % of 2yr. deal | 15% | 11.25% | 10% | 5% | 0% |
| % of 3yr. deal | 10% | 7.5% | 5% | 0% | 0% |
| % of 4yr. deal | 10% | 7.5% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
E.g. Teams with a negative cash balance will not be permitted to bid on UFAs with OV ratings of 70 or greater, as they will not have the funds required to pay the up-front signing bonus.
Bonuses apply to the entire value of the contract.
Any team not able to pay all of the signing bonuses for the players it wins in a group will have ALL of its bids invalidated for that group, and will be fined 15% of the total amount of the signing bonuses it had agreed to pay. In the event of a second offense, the offending team will be fined 25% of the total amount of the signing bonuses it had agreed to pay, and will be banned from further bidding for the remainder of the free agent season.
E.g. If a team owes $20 million in signing bonuses, but has only $10 million in the bank, the team will be fined 15% of the $20 million owed ($3 million, leaving the team with $7 million).
Franchise players are players who forego unrestricted free agency to re-sign with their existing teams. Players carrying the Franchise tag cannot be traded, and teams can only have one franchise player at any given time.
A player is eligible to receive the franchise tag if the following conditions are met:
If a team has a player eligible for the franchise tag, they may choose to re-sign the player. The contract value is determined by:
Note: In the event that there is not a minimum of 5 players falling into the range for averaging (a minimum of 3 after the highest and lowest salaries are excluded), the player will be considered an "exceptional player" and will have his fair-market value determined by a committee consisting of two league General Managers and at least one member of the Board of Governors. The committee will not include the General Manager of the team in question. In this scenario, the age and/or ratings considered will be broaded. The decision of the committee will not be considered binding arbitration. If the team feels that the arbitrated price is too high for their player, they may choose to apply the Franchise Tag to another eligible player.
Once re-signed, the player will be designated as the team's Franchise Player for the length of the contract minus one year, to a minimum of one year.
If a team does not have a player eligible for the Franchise tag, or chooses not to exercise this option in a given year, they will not be compensated in any way.
The Bidding Process is the auction in which teams bid on unsigned free agents. RFAs that are not signed to contract extensions (see 3.2.3.1 Extending Contracts) and UFAs not designated as Franchise players (see 3.2.5 Franchise Players) are eligible for the bidding process.
All eligible free agents will be placed randomly into three groups. The Free Agency Administrator (freeagent@sichl.com) will release the groups prior to the beginning of the bidding process, along with the minimum bid for all players. RFAs enter the bidding pool with a minimum bid equal to the qualifying bid + $1. UFAs enter the bidding pool with a minimum bid equal to the league's minimum salary ($450,000).
The bidding process for each group will be three rounds long.
Prior to each round of bidding, a bid sheet will be sent out to all GMs. This bid sheet must be returned to freeagent@sichl.com by the announced deadline in order to be considered. Bid sheets received after the announced deadline are invalid.
At the end of the first round of bidding, only bids within 25% (or $250,000, whichever is greater) of the highest bid on each player will be considered; all other teams will be eliminated from bidding on that player. Players who do not receive any bids in the first round will accept bids from all teams in the second round.
At the end of the second round of bidding, only the highest bid from the first round and bids within 10% (or $100,000) of the new highest bid on each player will be considered; all other teams will be eliminated from bidding on that player. Players who do not receive any bids in the second round will accept bids from all teams in the final round.
The third round is the final round. When making your bid on a player in the 3rd round, you must also submit the amount of years you want the player signed for. The General Manager who makes the highest bid in the third round officially tenders the highest bid. For all RFAs, the team that originally held the player's rights will have the option to either match the top offer or accept compensation (see above).
Contracts valued at less than $1,500,000/season are deemed two-way contracts. Players who play less than 41 regular season games on the pro roster will earn 10% of their contract value while on the farm roster. Players who play more than 41 regular season games on the pro roster will earn their full pro salary while on the farm roster.
Contracts valued at $1,500,000/season or greater are deemed one-way contracts, and the player is not eligible to be sent to the farm roster.
All entry level contracts are three years in duration.
Players approaching the age of 31 (in SICHL years - see 1.2.2.3 Player Age) will sign contracts for maximum durations determined by their OV rating. This is outlined in the following chart.
| Overall Player Rating | Will sign to age |
|---|---|
| 70+ | 31* |
| 65-69 | 32* |
| 60-64 | 33* |
| < 60 | 34* |
* Teams forced to pay compensation for signing an RFA may sign the player to a maximum of four (4) years, regardless of age.
All other players will sign contracts to a maximum of four (4) years in duration.
Players returning to the SICHL after a hiatus do not abide by the standard entry level contracts, and accept the minimum signing salary (see 3.2.2 Minimum Signing Salaries) based on their new OV rating. Re-entering players must also abide by contract duration lengths (see 3.2.7 Contract Durations).
Players that are not owned by a team but who become rated are placed on the unassigned players list and are initially available to teams through the bidding process as UFAs (see 3.2.6 The Bidding Process). If not signed through the bidding process they become "Unassigned Players".
Rated players whose rights are not owned by any team (players appearing on the Unassigned Players List) may be signed at any point during the regular season.
To sign a player from the Unassigned Players List, teams must email their intentions to transactions@sichl.com (player name only, no contract values). The contract bid will be posted on the SICHL message boards, with an opening bid determined by the Re-entering Players Contract table (see 3.2.8 Re-entering Players). All other GMs in the league have 24 hours to enter the bidding. If more than one team is interested in a player, the player will enter the bidding process with only the interested teams participating (see 3.2.6 The Bidding Process). Players must abide by contract duration lengths (see 3.2.7 Contract Durations).