Injured Reserve List
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The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in
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professional sports In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...
leagues for athletes who suffer
injuries An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, or o ...
and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) and
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL), the "injured list" in the
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
(CFL), and the injured list (historically known as the "disabled list") in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB). The
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) does not have a direct analog to an injured reserve list, instead using a more general-purpose "inactive list" that does not require a player to be injured. Injured reserve lists are used because the rules of these leagues allow for only a certain numbers of players on each team's roster. Designating a player as "Injured/Reserve" frees up a roster spot, enabling the team to add a new replacement player during the injured athlete's convalescence.


NHL rules

A player may be placed on injured reserve if he is unable to participate due to illness or injury, provided that the player had passed the club's initial physical examination at the start of the season. To qualify for the IR due to injury, that injury must be sufficient (in the opinion of the team's medical staff) to render the player unable to participate for the seven days following that injury. Once placed on IR, the team may then replace the player on their roster. The player on IR may not return to active play for seven days, although they may participate in non-competitive events such as practice, meetings, etc.


NFL rules

A team may place a player on injured reserve (reserve/injured list) who is "not immediately available for participation with a club". Generally, these players may not practice or return to the active roster for the rest of the season (including postseason games or the Pro Bowl) in which they are placed on injured reserve but are allowed to be with the team. Starting in 2012, the NFL and the NFLPA reached an agreement allowing one player placed on injured reserve to be brought back to the active roster. Provided that the player was on the final 53-man preseason roster (a rule exempted for the 2012 season), and that the injury is deemed to keep this player unable to practice or play football for an estimated six weeks, the player may be allowed to practice after Week 6, and be activated to play after Week 8. In 2017, the rule was changed to allow up to two players to return from injured reserve after Week 8. In 2018, the rule was slightly modified due to timing of team
bye week In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round. In knockout (elimination) tournaments they can be granted eit ...
s so players are only eligible to return after their team has played eight games instead of after eight weeks. In 2020, the number of players eligible to return to each team in a season increased to three. Teams may also place a player on injured reserve with a minor injury designation, but the team must release the player once he is healthy. During the
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, the league also allows players with long-term, but not season-ending, injuries to be placed into one of three designations:
physically unable to perform Physically unable to perform (PUP) is a roster designation used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who suffered injuries during football-related activities prior to the start of training camp. Players on the PUP list may participate ...
(PUP), for injuries sustained during the previous season or during offseason training activities (a player who passes their physical at the beginning of training camp and practices is physically able to participate and is thus ineligible for the PUP list), reserve/
non-football injury Non-football injury and non-football illness (NFI) are roster designations used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who are unable to practice as a result of conditions unrelated to football, or injuries that did not occur during NFL g ...
(NFL), for injuries sustained outside of team or league activities (despite the name, this includes lingering injuries from
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play, should an injured player be drafted and join the team), or reserve/non-football illness (NFL), for severe illnesses sustained by players unrelated to football. Players on the PUP list can be moved to the active roster after week 6 of the regular season or placed on injured reserve. , players on the NFL lists can begin practicing after week 6 but cannot be activated until their team has played eight games. When a player from the NFL lists begins practicing, a three-week window starts in which they are eligible to be moved to the active roster. If the player is not activated at the conclusion of the three-week window, they must remain on the NFL list for the rest of the season. During the regular season, players on the PUP list and injured reserve do not count against the league's 53-man roster maximum, but do count against the 90-man roster limit.


NBA rules

Due to abuses in the use of the injured reserve list, where some teams found it convenient to use the IR to stash players without independent medical oversight, the injured reserve has been renamed the Inactive List with the last
collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
. Starting in the , players can enter the inactive list one hour before tip-off for as little as one game. The inactive list has a minimum of one player and a maximum of three, subject to hardship rules when a team with three injured players already on its inactive list has a fourth player injured. Players sent to the
NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...
continues to count on a team's inactive list.


WNBA rules

Unlike its parent league, the WNBA has no injury list as of the 2019 season. This notably affected the Seattle Storm going into that season, when reigning league MVP
Breanna Stewart Breanna Mackenzie Stewart (born Baldwin; born August 27, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In high school, Stewart was the National Gatorade Player o ...
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her right
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in the 2019 EuroLeague Women final. Because of the lack of an injured list, the Storm suspended Stewart without pay to free up a roster spot. (The WNBA would later make Stewart a paid league ambassador during her rehabilitation.) The league had an injury list when it began play in 1997; players placed on this list were required to sit out at least three games. In 2006, the league changed to an inactive list of up to two players, but it was eliminated after the 2008 season, when rosters were reduced to 11. WNBA rosters now consist of 12 players.


MLB rules

There are four types of injured reserve lists in Major League Baseball. :''Up to 7 Games'': The Paternity and Bereavement Lists in MLB are designed for family situations. A player on Bereavement List for the health or funeral of another family member may miss 3-7 games, while Paternity List players for birth of a child allows a player up to three games missed. :''7 Days'': When a player is placed in concussion protocol, players will be assigned to the seven-day IL to prevent long-term brain damage. If a player is not activated by the seventh day, he is moved to the regular IL. :''10 Days'': Depending on severity and/or recovery time, a player is placed on the ten-day IL. Players may attend games and stay with the team, and leave the team for minor league rehabilitation assignments if necessary. The player is removed from the active roster, but not the 40-man roster. :''60 Days'': More severe injuries will result in a player being placed on the 60-day IL. The player will not be listed on the 40-man roster, allowing an additional player to be available. A player can not be put on the 60-day IL unless a team's 40-man roster is full.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Injured Reserve List Sports terminology Sports injuries