SherbyNet - /page/wikibook/entry.mu

Micron Document

<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>Dispersal draft</title>

</head>

<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Dispersal draft</span></span>

</h1>

</header>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style>

<p>A <b>dispersal draft</b> is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when an existing team folds or is merged into another team. Like most other <a href="Draft_(sports)" title="Draft (sports)">sports drafts</a>, most dispersal drafts are conducted in <a href="Closed_league" title="Closed league">closed leagues</a> and are intended to prevent bidding wars and to maintain a league's competitive balance when a folded or merged team's roster of players is absorbed into the rest of a league's teams. As generally all or most of a team's players would become <a href="Free_agent" title="Free agent">free agents</a> following their team's disestablishment or merger.

</p><p>Dispersal drafts are more commonly seen in emerging sports (such as <a href="Soccer" class="mw-redirect" title="Soccer">soccer</a> or women's <a href="Basketball" title="Basketball">basketball</a> in the <a href="United_States" title="United States">United States</a>) or alternative leagues where initial support for a team failed to remain consistent and the team was unable to survive financially resulting in a team folding or merging with another team.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Examples_of_dispersal_drafts">Examples of dispersal drafts</h2></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Baseball">Baseball</h3></div>

<ul><li>During the <a href="2004_Nippon_Professional_Baseball_realignment" title="2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment">2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment</a>, a dispersal draft was held on November 8, 2004, to build the rosters of the newly created <a href="Tohoku_Rakuten_Golden_Eagles" title="Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles">Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles</a> and the newly merged <a href="Orix_Buffaloes" title="Orix Buffaloes">Orix Buffaloes</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Basketball">Basketball</h3></div>

<ul><li>The <a href="National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">National Basketball Association</a> (NBA) had two dispersal drafts in the 1950–51 season: In October 1950, a dispersal draft for the <a href="Chicago_Stags" title="Chicago Stags">Chicago Stags</a> franchise was conducted, and in January 1951, the <a href="Washington_Capitols" title="Washington Capitols">Washington Capitols</a> demise led to a second dispersal draft. There would also be a dispersal draft in the NBA during the 1954–55 when the <a href="Baltimore_Bullets_(1944%E2%80%931954)" title="Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954)">original Baltimore Bullets</a> folded operations early into the season in November 1954.</li>

<li>The <a href="American_Basketball_Association" title="American Basketball Association">American Basketball Association</a> (ABA) had a dispersal draft in June 1972 when two teams folded<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and had two drafts within a month of each other in October and November 1975 as two more teams folded during what turned out to be the final season of the ABA.</li>

<li>On August 8, 1976, as part of the <a href="ABA-NBA_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="ABA-NBA merger">ABA-NBA merger</a> agreement, a dispersal draft was conducted to assign teams for the players on the two ABA franchises which had folded following the agreement.</li>

<li>The <a href="Women's_National_Basketball_Association" title="Women's National Basketball Association">Women's National Basketball Association</a> (WNBA) had five such drafts over a seven-year period. In the 2003 season, the first dispersal draft was held after the <a href="2003_WNBA_dispersal_draft" title="2003 WNBA dispersal draft">Miami Sol and Portland Fire</a> folded. This was followed by four other times: the 2004 season, after the <a href="2004_WNBA_dispersal_draft" title="2004 WNBA dispersal draft">Cleveland Rockers</a> folded; the 2007 season, after the <a href="2007_WNBA_dispersal_draft" title="2007 WNBA dispersal draft">Charlotte Sting</a> folded; the 2009 season, after <a href="2009_WNBA_dispersal_draft" title="2009 WNBA dispersal draft">Houston Comets</a> folded; and the 2010 season, after the <a href="2010_WNBA_dispersal_draft" title="2010 WNBA dispersal draft">Sacramento Monarchs</a> folded. In each draft, all remaining WNBA teams were allowed a draft pick in reverse order of their regular-season record from the preceding season.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Gridiron_football">Gridiron football</h3></div>

<ul><li>The <a href="National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a> (NFL) held a <a href="1950_AAFC_dispersal_draft" title="1950 AAFC dispersal draft">dispersal draft</a> on June 2, 1950, to allocate players from the four remaining teams in the <a href="All-America_Football_Conference" title="All-America Football Conference">All-America Football Conference</a> who would not be joining the NFL.</li>

<li>In 1996, the <a href="Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> (CFL) conducted a dispersal draft which consisted of players from the rosters of the <a href="Birmingham_Barracudas" title="Birmingham Barracudas">Birmingham Barracudas</a>, <a href="Memphis_Mad_Dogs" title="Memphis Mad Dogs">Memphis Mad Dogs</a>, <a href="San_Antonio_Texans" title="San Antonio Texans">San Antonio Texans</a> and <a href="Shreveport_Pirates" title="Shreveport Pirates">Shreveport Pirates</a> in order to return the CFL to a nine-team format with all franchises based in Canadian cities. The CFL conducted another dispersal draft the following year, when the <a href="Ottawa_Rough_Riders" title="Ottawa Rough Riders">Ottawa Rough Riders</a> ceased operations; those players under contract by the team were dispersed amongst the eight remaining teams.</li>

<li>In 1996 and 1997, the <a href="Australian_Football_League" title="Australian Football League">Australian Football League</a> held an <a href="Expansion_draft" title="Expansion draft">expansion and dispersal</a> draft as part of the <a href="1996_AFL_draft" title="1996 AFL draft">1996 national draft and the 1997 pre-season draft</a> as Port Adelaide would enter the AFL for the 1997 season, and the Brisbane Bears had taken over Fitzroy's playing operations after Fitzroy had folded at the end of Round 22. The Bears were allowed to recruit eight of the 19 Fitzroy players that nominated for the draft as part of the agreement to take the Lions nickname and Fitzroy's remaining AFL property, while three Fitzroy players were taken by Port Adelaide, and the remaining eight players were drafted by other teams.</li>

<li>On April 9, 2006, the <a href="Ottawa_Renegades" title="Ottawa Renegades">Ottawa Renegades</a> had their team operations suspended by the <a href="Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a>. On April 12, 2006, the former players still under contract and those that the Renegades had the rights to, were distributed amongst the remaining eight teams. <a href="Quarterback" title="Quarterback">Quarterback</a> <a href="Kerry_Joseph" title="Kerry Joseph">Kerry Joseph</a> was selected #1 overall by the <a href="Saskatchewan_Roughriders" title="Saskatchewan Roughriders">Saskatchewan Roughriders</a> after they traded with the <a href="Hamilton_Tiger-Cats" title="Hamilton Tiger-Cats">Hamilton Tiger-Cats</a> for the rights to the #1 pick.</li>

<li>The <a href="United_Football_League_(2009%E2%80%932012)" title="United Football League (2009–2012)">United Football League</a> conducted a dispersal draft prior to the <a href="2011_UFL_season" title="2011 UFL season">2011 season</a> to accommodate the shutdown of the <a href="Hartford_Colonials" title="Hartford Colonials">Hartford Colonials</a>. Five rounds were held among the UFL's four remaining teams, the twenty players who were drafted went to their new teams, and the remaining players became free agents.</li>

<li>On September 6, 2013, the <a href="Arena_Football_League" title="Arena Football League">Arena Football League</a> held a dispersal draft to distribute the players of the dormant <a href="Chicago_Rush" title="Chicago Rush">Chicago Rush</a> and <a href="Utah_Blaze" title="Utah Blaze">Utah Blaze</a> franchises. They referred to the dispersal draft as the "Offseason Assignment Process".</li>

<li>On January 5 and 15, 2024, the <a href="United_Football_League_(2024)" title="United Football League (2024)">United Football League</a> held a dispersal draft to reallocate players from the 8 <a href="XFL_(2020)" class="mw-redirect" title="XFL (2020)">XFL</a> and <a href="United_States_Football_League_(2022)" class="mw-redirect" title="United States Football League (2022)">USFL</a> teams that did not survive the merging of the two leagues.</li>

<li>On March 5, 2025, the <a href="Liga_de_F%C3%BAtbol_Americano_Profesional" title="Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional">Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional</a> held a dispersal draft to distribute players from the <a href="Galgos_de_Tijuana" title="Galgos de Tijuana">Galgos de Tijuana</a> and <a href="Jefes_de_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez" title="Jefes de Ciudad Juárez">Jefes de Ciudad Juárez</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Ice_hockey">Ice hockey</h3></div>

<ul><li>In June 1978, the <a href="National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">National Hockey League</a> (NHL) allowed the financially struggling Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars to merge under the North Stars banner. The North Stars were allowed to keep some of the players from each team, and the remaining players went into the <a href="1978_NHL_Dispersal_Draft" class="mw-redirect" title="1978 NHL Dispersal Draft">1978 NHL Dispersal Draft</a>.</li>

<li>In 1991, the NHL conducted a <a href="1991_NHL_Dispersal_Draft" class="mw-redirect" title="1991 NHL Dispersal Draft">Dispersal Draft</a> in order to split a new team, the <a href="San_Jose_Sharks" title="San Jose Sharks">San Jose Sharks</a>, from the <a href="Minnesota_North_Stars" title="Minnesota North Stars">Minnesota North Stars</a> as a compromise after the North Stars owners requested permission to move the financially struggling franchise to the <a href="San_Francisco_Bay_Area" title="San Francisco Bay Area">San Francisco Bay Area</a>, effectively undoing the 1978 merger between the Stars and the <a href="California_Golden_Seals" title="California Golden Seals">California Golden Seals</a>.</li>

<li>On January 5, 2007, the <a href="Southern_Professional_Hockey_League" class="mw-redirect" title="Southern Professional Hockey League">Southern Professional Hockey League</a> conducted a one-round seven team dispersal draft after the SPHL terminated the Florida Seals franchise midway through the season; the seven players who were drafted went to their new teams, while the remaining players became free agents.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Soccer">Soccer</h3></div>

<ul><li>In 2002, <a href="Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a> held a <a href="2002_MLS_Dispersal_Draft" class="mw-redirect" title="2002 MLS Dispersal Draft">Dispersal Draft</a> after shutting down the <a href="Tampa_Bay_Mutiny" title="Tampa Bay Mutiny">Tampa Bay Mutiny</a> and <a href="Miami_Fusion" title="Miami Fusion">Miami Fusion</a> teams. <a href="2014_MLS_expansion_draft" title="2014 MLS expansion draft">Another draft</a> was conducted on November 19, 2014, to distribute the players of <a href="Chivas_USA" title="Chivas USA">Chivas USA</a>.</li>

<li>The <a href="Major_Indoor_Soccer_League_(2001_%E2%80%93_2008)" class="mw-redirect" title="Major Indoor Soccer League (2001 – 2008)">Major Indoor Soccer League</a> shut down the <a href="San_Diego_Sockers_(2001-2004)" class="mw-redirect" title="San Diego Sockers (2001-2004)">San Diego Sockers</a> and <a href="Monterrey_Fury" title="Monterrey Fury">Monterrey Fury</a> in December 2004 as a result of various issues, including unpaid debts and insolvency. Players in those teams were then distributed to the remaining teams in a dispersal draft, and the order of player selection was in reverse order of the winning percentage of the remaining teams (excluding games against San Diego and Monterrey and the playoffs) from the 2003–04 seasons and the 2004–2005 season up to that point.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><div class="reflist">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("./mw/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("./mw/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("./mw/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("./mw/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2004/11/09/baseball/japanese-baseball/new-teams-choose-107-players-in-distribution-draft">"New teams choose 107 players in distribution draft"</a>. <i><a href="The_Japan_Times" title="The Japan Times">The Japan Times</a></i>. <a href="Kyodo_News" title="Kyodo News">Kyodo News</a>. November 9, 2004<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">August 20,</span> 2020</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/313600420/?terms=%22ron%20franz%22&match=1">"Lincoln Journal Star 14 Jun 1972, page 44"</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFAguilar2025" class="citation news cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Aguilar, Leopoldo (March 7, 2025). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.lajornadadeoriente.com.mx/puebla/los-arcangeles-roster-draft-extraordinario-lfa-2025/">"Los Arcángeles refuerzan su roster con talento del draft extraordinario de la LFA 2025"</a>. <i>La Jornada de Oriente</i> (in Spanish)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">May 5,</span> 2025</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

</ol></div></div></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-05-27" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Dispersal_draft&oldid=1292479559">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

</div>

</div></div>

</div>

</main>

</div>

</body></html>