For purposes of this Article, a “Qualifying Player” shall be defined as a player with four or more Credited Seasons, whose contract has expired or been terminated, who signs a Qualifying Contract.

Players with Qualifying Contracts or Four-Year Player Qualifying Contracts shall be paid their stated Paragraph 5 Salaries in accordance with Article 26, Section 5 of this Agreement.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the Salary Cap count for a Qualifying Contract shall be the same as the minimum salary for a player with two Credited Seasons. For split “Qualifying Contracts,” the Salary Cap count will equal the full minimum salary for players with two Credited Seasons (if the player is on an Active/Inactive List) or the split minimum for players with two Credited Seasons (if the player is not on an Active/Inactive List).

The difference between the Salary Cap count for a Qualifying Contract and the stated minimum for the Qualifying Player’s years of service shall be counted as a Player Benefit (“the Veteran Salary Benefit”). For example, in the 2020 League Year, a Qualifying Player with five Credited Seasons shall receive a Minimum Salary of $910,000; however, only $750,000 shall count against his Club’s Team Salary. The difference of $160,000 shall be counted as a Player Benefit.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the Salary Cap count for a FourYear Player Qualifying Contract shall equal the minimum Active/Inactive List Salary for a player with the Four-Year Qualifying Player’s number of Credited Seasons. For split Four-Year Player Qualifying Contracts, the Salary Cap count shall equal the minimum Active/Inactive List Salary for a player with the Qualifying Player’s number of credited seasons or the minimum non-Active/Inactive List Salary for a player with the Four-Year Qualifying Player’s number of Credited Seasons.

The difference between the Salary Cap count for a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract and the Four-Year Player’s stated Paragraph 5 Salary shall be counted as a Player Benefit (“the Four-Year Player Benefit”). For example, if in the 2020 League Year a Four-Year Qualifying Player with five Credited Seasons signs a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract with a Paragraph 5 Salary of $2,160,000, only $910,000 shall count against his Club’s Team Salary. The difference of $1.25 million shall be counted as a Player Benefit

After the Club’s last game of a season and prior to the expiration of the Qualifying Contract, the current Club and Player may agree to (i) extend for one year a Qualifying Contract, provided that the terms of the extension comply with Section 2 above; (ii) extend for one year a Qualifying Contract by entering into a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract (provided that the terms of the extension comply with Section 7 above); or (iii) extend a Qualifying Contract by entering into a non-Qualifying Contract or a non-Qualifying Four-Year Player Contract.

After the Club’s last game of a season and prior to the expiration of the Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract, the current Club and Player may agree to (i) extend for one year a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract by entering into a Qualifying Contract (provided that the terms of the extension comply with Section 2 above); (ii) extend for one year a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract (provided that the terms of the extension comply with Section 7 above); or (iii) extend a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract by entering into a non-Qualifying Contract or non-Four Year Player Qualifying Contract.

If his contract is terminated, a Qualifying Player may sign a Qualifying Contract with any “New Club” (defined as any Club that did not hold contractual rights to the player’s services on the final day of the prior regular season or last postseason game).

In the event that a player signs a Qualifying Contract with a “New Club,” the player cannot be traded back to the “Old Club” during that League Year unless the player’s prior contract(s) with the Old Club meets the requirements of Section 14 below. In the event that the player signs a Qualifying Contract with a New Club and the Qualifying Contract is terminated by the New Club, the player may sign a Qualifying Contract with his Old Club. Nothing in the foregoing shall prevent a player from signing a contract with his Old Club if the Old Club does not seek to have the contract treated as a Qualifying Contract.

A player whose prior contract was terminated may sign a Qualifying Contract with his “Old Club”(defined as the Club that held contractual rights to the player’s services on the final day of the prior regular season or last postseason game), provided that the Old Club did not, on or after January 1 in the calendar year that preceded the calendar year in which his contract was terminated, (a) renegotiate and/or extend his prior contract to increase or guarantee compensation or to convert nonguaranteed compensation to a signing bonus allocation, for more than the maximum Additional Compensation amount in any League Year of the contract for which the player has received or will receive compensation, or (b) sign the player to a new multiyear contract for more than the applicable Minimum Salary in any League Year of the contract plus additional Salary above the maximum Additional Compensation amount in any League Year of the contract for which the player has received or will receive compensation, and further provided that (c) the sum of any acceleration from Signing Bonus that was agreed to in a contract executed on or after January 1 in the calendar year in which the contract was terminated and any other Additional Compensation that the player has received or will receive from that terminated contract does not exceed the maximum Additional Compensation amount. For purposes of the immediately preceding clause (c) only, any acceleration of signing bonus will be counted in the League Year of the contract’s termination regardless of whether the contract was terminated before or after June 1, and signing bonus proration for the final League Year of a contract terminated after June 1 in the contract’s next to last League Year will be considered to be accelerated. For example, if on January 1, 2021 a player signs a two-year contract for the minimum Paragraph 5 Salary in both years and a $200,000 signing bonus, and his contract is terminated on June 2, 2021, the player is not eligible to sign a 2021 Qualifying Contract with his Old Club because the sum of the acceleration of the 2022 prorated portion of the signing bonus ($100,000) that was agreed to in the year of his contract termination and the 2021 prorated portion of signing bonus from that terminated contract ($100,000) resulted in “additional compensation” of more than $137,500 in 2021. However, if the contract was signed on December 1, 2020, and the contract is terminated on June 2, 2021, the player is eligible to sign a Qualifying Contract with his Old Club if that contract includes no more than $37,500 in Additional Compensation.

Upon the expiration of a Player Contract, the player may sign a Qualifying Contract with any Club.

If a Qualifying Contract, or a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract, with guarantees is terminated, the player shall continue to receive the guaranteed portion of the contract and that money shall continue to count against the Salary Cap, but the benefit portion of the player’s compensation (including the subsidy) shall cease. For example, if a player with a $910,000 Qualifying Contract, which includes a $750,000 Paragraph 5 guarantee, is terminated after the eighth week of the regular season, he receives $750,000 of the $910,000 Minimum Salary. If the player signs multiple guaranteed Qualifying Contracts covering the same League Year at the applicable Minimum Salary, the maximum guaranteed salary he can earn under all such Qualifying Contracts is $750,000.

If a Qualifying Player or a Four-Year Qualifying Player is eligible for Termination Pay when he is released and subsequently files a claim, he shall receive the charged amount plus the corresponding benefit amount. The player does not receive the benefit amount twice.

Contracts for players with four or more Credited Seasons who sign at the applicable minimum for that year plus more than the maximum amount of Additional Compensation (e.g., prorated signing bonus, etc.) or who otherwise do not qualify for the benefit, are not Qualifying Contracts or Four-Year Player Qualifying Contracts. In addition, contracts that have not been designated as Four-Year Player Qualifying Contracts and approved as such under this Article are not Four-Year Player Qualifying Contracts. The Salary Cap count for such contracts will be in accordance with existing Salary Cap rules. There will be no Veteran Salary Benefit or Four-Year Player Benefit or reduced Salary Cap count for such contracts.