IFA Frenzy Sets New Records

[RonCo]

Perhaps it was the quality of the group of young players in the International Free Agency pool this year, or perhaps it was the fact that teams are getting a better handle on how and when to use their big free agent budgets. Perhaps it’s about competition, and the fact that the league has several young teams pushing for post season glory. Perhaps, too, it was the league’s adjustment of the tax bar from $1M to $5M that spurred it all on.

I don’t known.

Most likely it was one from category A and two from B.

But the fact remains this: the 2043 International Free Agent Market was the hottest ticket that it’s ever been.

2043 saw 14 teams enter the market and spend a combined $199M. Let that boggle your mind a bit. To see it even more clearly, here is the IFA spend since 2039, which goes back to the year prior to last expansion:


IFA Pre-Tax Spend

Year	Teams	Spend
2039	5	$30M
2040	9	$36M
2041	8	$33M
2042	14	$199M

Note the key word there: Pre-tax. In other words, It’s likely that the teams in question spent another $170M or so in tax based penalties to sign these players. It’s also of note that (1) the process obviously went deeper into the league, meaning more teams decided to grab more of the talent (not “just” the big winners--though they certainly had their plays) and (2) per rule, most of those big teams will now be at least partially sitting out the 2044 International s\Signing period, which will clear the way for even more participation from middle-pack and lower ranked teams next season.


Perfect Storm?

So the big question remains, will it happen again? Does this shift seem likely to stay around, or was it a one-hit wonder that will fade into the record books.

Truth?

I don’t know. A lot of it obviously depends on the quality of the pool. No GM in their right minds will throw $10-20M at players that don’t dazzle the eyes. So if the kids are good, the dollars will be prime. But the other factors play, too. The league is bigger today than it ever was—32 teams means more teams with cash to spend. And the divisional structure does seem to be driving competition up and down the tables as it was hoped. And, finally, the GMs in this league are a pretty good lot, and are learning more every season. As they leverage their resources more expertly, they create more spending funds. More funds means more IFA buzz. And a higher spend cap means a few smaller revenue guys can afford to drop (say) $2-$4M into one guy knowing they won’t lose the ability to play in the IFA reindeer games again next year.

It’s a theory anyway.

So, to the question of whether this was a one-time deal or will we see it again, I’d probably fall to this: if the players are good, the system is now perfectly staged to create this kind of bidding frenzy again.

Make of that what you will.

[RonCo]

Update, I think....

17 teams have spent $217M dollars so far, not counting taxes:

Team	Player	Bonus
Charlotte Cougars	Rabi Mahmud	2,500,000
Charm City Jimmies	Luqman Ferran	10,200,000
Charm City Jimmies	Insung Yun	8,341,781
Charm City Jimmies	Peng Hann	3,512,328
Chicago Black Sox	Taki Goto	9,000,000
Edmonton Jackrabbits	Candranibha Saswata	10,700,000
Hawaii Tropics	Adhyapayana Mehta	10,000,000
Las Vegas Hustlers	Pedro Guzmán	3,687,945
Long Beach Surfers	Félix Navarro	5,049,405
Louisville Sluggers	Greg Shaw	12,500,000
Louisville Sluggers	Mujahid bin Anis	3,300,000
Louisville Sluggers	Isat Kasturirangan	11,059,589
Louisville Sluggers	Amitdhvaja Sambandan	3,343,835
Mexico City Aztecs	Juan Féliz	7,000,000
Montreal Blazers	Burhan bin Bishr	8,800,000
Omaha Cyclones	Humam bin Nuri	6,000,000
Omaha Cyclones	Juan Romano	16,000,000
Phoenix Talons	Rajeshkumar Simha	15,678,901
Rockville Pikemen	Zong-yuan Guang	6,800,000
Rockville Pikemen	Farid bin Mubarak	10,500,000
San Fernando Bears	Rubén bin Majid	16,400,000
Seattle Storm	Murtadi bin Anbar	11,600,000
Vancouver Mounties	Ahamyati Sophia	1,400,000
Yellow Springs Nine	Burhan Tahir	12,000,002
Yellow Springs Nine	Idhma Motiwala	12,000,002

[JimBob2232]

What’s really interesting is that those teams won’t be able to sign ifa’s next year. So if it’s another banner pool - will be interesting to see how it plays out.

With my new stadium this year - I decided not to get into the bidding wars and wait until next year. Should be interesting to see how that decision plays out. The same supply with a whole lot less demand would be awesome!