reserve clause

The reserve clause is a term formerly employed in North American professional sports contracts. The reserve clause, contained in all standard player contracts, stated that, upon the contract's expiration the rights to the player were to be retained by the team to which he had been signed. Practically, this meant that although both the player's obligation to play for the team as well as the team's obligation to pay the player were terminated, the player was not free to enter into another contract with another team. The player was bound to either a) negotiate a new contract to play another year for the same team or b) ask to be released.
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Noun
1. a clause that used to be part of the contract with a professional athlete extending the contract for a year beyond its expiration; "the reserve clause was used to bind players to a particular ball club"
(hypernym) article, clause
(part-holonym) contract