Dispersal draft
Encyclopedia
A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team goes out of business, consolidates with another team, or for some other reason ceases to exist. Since most sports draft
Draft (sports)
A draft is a process used in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Russia and the Philippines to allocate certain players to sports teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players...

s are held in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, this is where most dispersal drafts are conducted as well. Since no major professional sports team has folded in decades, dispersal drafts are more commonly seen in emerging sports (such as soccer or women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) where initial support for a team failed to remain consistent and the team was unable to survive financially.

Examples of dispersal drafts

  • The National Football League
    National Football League
    The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

     held a disperal draft
    1950 AAFC Dispersal Draft
    The National Football League held a dispersal draft on June 2, 1950 for players from the All-America Football Conference teams of the Brooklyn-New York Yankees, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Hornets, and Los Angeles Dons...

     on June 2, 1950 for the players of the All-America Football Conference
    All-America Football Conference
    The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...

    .
  • The NBA
    National Basketball Association
    The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

     had two dispersal drafts in the 1950–51 season. In October 1950, a dispersal draft for the Chicago Stags
    Chicago Stags
    The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago, Illinois, U.S..- Franchise history :The Chicago Stags were founded in 1946 and folded in 1950. Despite their short history, they were able to acquire the draft rights to a young Bob Cousy in a trade with the Tri-Cities...

     franchise was conducted. In January 1951, the Washington Capitols
    Washington Capitols
    The Washington Capitols were a charter Basketball Association of America team based in Washington, D.C. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerbach....

     early demise led to a dispersal draft. On August 8, 1976, as part of the ABA-NBA merger agreement, a dispersal draft was conducted to assign teams for the players on the two ABA franchises which had folded.
  • The American Basketball Association
    American Basketball Association
    The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...

     in 1975 had two drafts within a month of each other in October and November 1975 as teams folded during what turned out to be the final season of the ABA;
  • In June 1978, the NHL allowed the Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars to merge. The North Stars were allowed to keep some of the players from each team and the rest of the players went into the 1978 Cleveland-Minnesota Dispersal Draft
    1978 Cleveland-Minnesota Dispersal Draft
    In June 1978, the National Hockey League allowed the Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars to merge. The North Stars were allowed to keep some of the players from each team and the rest of the players went into the 1978 Cleveland-Minnesota Dispersal Draft....

    .
  • In 1991, the National Hockey League
    National Hockey League
    The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

     conducted a dispersal draft in order to split a "new" team, the San Jose Sharks
    San Jose Sharks
    The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

    , off of the Minnesota North Stars
    Minnesota North Stars
    The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white...

     as a compromise when the Minnesota owners requested permission to move the franchise to the San Francisco Bay Area
    San Francisco Bay Area
    The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

    . This is not "technically" a dispersal draft as the other situations. (To call the team "new" may also be a misnomer; the same ownership had merged the Cleveland Barons
    Cleveland Barons (NHL)
    The Cleveland Barons were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League from 1976–78. They were a relocation of the California Golden Seals franchise, which had played in Oakland since 1967...

     (formerly the California Golden Seals
    California Golden Seals
    The California Golden Seals were a team in the National Hockey League from 1967–76. Initially named California Seals, the team was renamed Oakland Seals part-way through the 1967–68 season, and then to California Golden Seals in 1970. The Seals were one of six teams added to the league as part of...

    , also from the Bay Area), with the North Stars in 1978, so this was effectively a reversal of a merger rather than a dispersal.)
  • In 1996, the Canadian Football League
    Canadian Football League
    The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

     conducted a dispersal draft which consisted of players from the rosters of the Birmingham Barracudas
    Birmingham Barracudas
    The Birmingham Barracudas were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Barracudas were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States.-In the beginning:...

    , Memphis Mad Dogs
    Memphis Mad Dogs
    The Memphis Mad Dogs were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Mad Dogs were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States....

    , San Antonio Texans
    San Antonio Texans
    The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Miners...

     and Shreveport Pirates
    Shreveport Pirates
    The Shreveport Pirates were a Canadian Football League team, playing at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, in 1994 and 1995....

     in order to return the CFL to a nine-team format with all franchises based in Canadian cities.
  • In 2002, Major League Soccer
    Major League Soccer
    Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

     held a dispersal draft
    2002 MLS Dispersal Draft
    The 2002 MLS Dispersal Draft was held by Major League Soccer on January 11, 2002, following the contraction of the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny to distribute the two teams' players that were not selected in the 2002 MLS Allocation Draft.-Round 1:...

     after shutting down the Tampa Bay Mutiny
    Tampa Bay Mutiny
    The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in...

     and Miami Fusion
    Miami Fusion
    Miami Fusion F.C. was a professional soccer club located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that participated in Major League Soccer from 1998 to 2001. The club played in Lockhart Stadium, which was a former high school stadium converted into a soccer-specific stadium...

     teams.
  • The WNBA has had five such drafts: For the 2003 season, after Miami and Portland folded; 2004 season, after Cleveland folded; the 2007 season, after Charlotte folded; the 2008 season, after Houston folded; and the 2010 season, after Sacramento folded. In each draft, all remaining WNBA teams were allowed a draft pick, in reverse order of their regular-season record for the preceding season.
  • The Major Indoor Soccer League shut down two teams in December 2004 — the San Diego Sockers and Monterrey Fury
    Monterrey Fury
    The Monterrey Fury were a Mexican team playing in a United States based soccer league. The team was awarded a Major Indoor Soccer League expansion franchise for the 2003-2004 season...

     — over various issues with the operation of those teams. Players in those teams were then distributed to remaining teams in a dispersal draft. The order of player selection was based on the winning percentage of the remaining teams from the 2003–04 season and the 2004–2005 season up to that point.
  • On April 9, 2006, the Ottawa Renegades
    Ottawa Renegades
    Ottawa Renegades was the most recent name of a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario founded in 2002, seven years after the storied Ottawa Rough Riders folded...

     had their team operations suspended by the Canadian Football League
    Canadian Football League
    The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

    . On April 12, 2006, the former players still under contract, plus those that the Renegades had the rights to, were distributed
    CFL Dispersal Draft
    The CFL player dispersal draft was held with the disbanding of the Ottawa Renegades franchise in 2006. The draft took place on April 12th and consisted of eight rounds, with Kerry Joseph being selected first overall by Saskatchewan.-Draft Results:...

     amongst the remaining 8 teams. The worst team from the previous year selected first and went until all players were selected or all teams passed on the remaining players. Quarterback
    Quarterback
    Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

     Kerry Joseph
    Kerry Joseph
    Kerry Tremaine Joseph is a quarterback who is currently playing for the Edmonton Eskimos. He was born in New Iberia, Louisiana....

     was selected #1 overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders
    Saskatchewan Roughriders
    The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...

     after they traded with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
    Hamilton Tiger-Cats
    The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...

     for the rights to the #1 pick.
  • On January 5, 2007, the Southern Professional Hockey League
    Southern Professional Hockey League
    The Southern Professional Hockey League is a low-level professional ice hockey league based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with teams located in the southeastern United States.- History :...

     quickly 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. The remaining players became free agents.
  • The United Football League conducted a dispersal draft prior to the 2011 UFL season
    2011 UFL season
    The 2011 UFL season was the third season of the United Football League. The season, which was affected by franchise shifts and schedule delays due in part to the UFL's lingering financial issues , began on September 15, 2011 and would have run through October 28, with a championship game set for the...

     to accommodate the shutdown of the Hartford Colonials. Five rounds were held among the UFL's four remaining teams, in which the rights to twenty Colonials players were acquired.
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