In professional sports, a free agent is a player, whose contract with a team has expired, who's eligible to sign with another franchise. The term came into wide use in North America after sports leagues stopped using a "reserve clause" after much acrimonious collective bargaining, which provided a repetitive option for the club to renew the contract for one more year, but did not allow the player to terminate the relationship with the team. The result of the reserve clause was abusive from the player standpoint so that a player was essentially property of the team. Once in free agency, a player is in a "pool" of free agents, from which teams can sign players who are able to drive hard bargains in the employment market place since the owners now must compete for their talents. The term is also used, with similar meaning, in contexts outside of sports; for example, a well known musician who is no longer under contract with a major label might be described as a free agent.

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