Many things happen at the official start of the new NFL year:

• All 2012 player contracts will expire at 4:00 p.m. ET.
• All clubs must be under the Salary Cap prior to 4:00 p.m., ET.
• Trading period begins at 4:00 p.m., ET, for 2013 after expiration of all 2012 contracts.
• Clubs must exercise options for 2013 on all players who have option clauses in their 2012 contracts
• Clubs must submit Qualifying Offers to their Restricted Free Agents with expiring contracts and to whom they desire to retain a Right of First Refusal/Compensation.
• Clubs must submit a minimum salary offer to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2012 contracts and who have fewer than three seasons of free agency credit.

Rivalry Week in the MLS featuring hotly contested regional match-ups:

• The Cascadia Cup: Seattle Sounders vs. Portland Timbers
• New York Red Bulls vs. D.C. United
• The Rocky Mountain Cup: Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids
• The Clash in Montreal: Motreal Impact vs. Toronto FC
• The Battle of Texas: FC Dallas vs. Houston Dynamo.

MLB First-Year Player Draft. A player is eligible for selection if the player is a resident of the United States or Canada and the player has never before signed a Major League or Minor League contract. They must also fall into one of these categories:

• High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college;
• College players, from four-year colleges who have either completed their junior or senior years or are at least 21 years old; and
• Junior college players, regardless of how many years of school they have completed

Deadline to sign players selected in the 2013 first-year player draft.
Prior to 2007, a team retained the rights to sign a selected player until one week prior to the next draft, or until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college on a full-time basis. Starting in 2012, the deadline for signing a drafted player is July 12th. A selected player who enters a junior college cannot be signed until the conclusion of the school’s baseball season. A player who is drafted and does not sign with the club that selected him may be drafted again at a future year’s draft, so long as the player is eligible for that year’s draft.