Although not common in other American professional sports, transferring players to bigger clubs for a cash return is a common practice in soccer.

Last week, the RailHawks transferred standout defender Brad Rusin to HB Koge, a first-division professional team in Denmark, and back-up goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell to a second-division team in Portugal.

They are the first two RailHawks in the team's five-year history to be transferred midseason to other clubs, a move that indicates a new era of the RailHawks' new ownership.

The RailHawks are owned by Traffic Sports USA, the same Brazilian-based group that also owns the North American Soccer League and two other league teams. Traffic Sports specializes in player movement, using its contacts across the globe to help place its players with new clubs.

Coach Martin Rennie talked about having players move to bigger clubs since his first year. But for the first time in his three seasons, the organization seems capable of putting it in place and making it a part of the team's identity.

Four of last year's RailHawks signed contracts with Major League Soccer teams before the season.

"I think we've got seven guys who have moved to a higher level in the last six months," Rennie said. "That's a lot of players and that would suggest we're managing to do what we said we would."

Team president Curt Johnson said other players on the team, which is 12-1-1 midway during the season, are getting looks from larger clubs. Much like a college basketball program that sends players to the NBA routinely, the idea is that sending talent to a higher level will attract more talent in the future.

As much as fans may like watching a striker like Etienne Barbara, who leads the NASL in goals and assists, the franchise could stand to benefit more with selling his rights to a MLS team, depending on what is offered. Barbara's contract ends after this year, which means the RailHawks must weigh the likelihood of him signing with a larger club in the offseason without compensation.

"It's one of the trickiest things and one of the most important things that we do," Johnson said. "There's a time and a place to look at the big picture and say, 'Look this is the opportunity of a lifetime for this player,' and you can't stand in the way of that. Some are cut-and-dry and some are harder decisions."

When it comes to Barbara specifically, RailHawks fans will get to enjoy his skills for the foreseeable future.

"We aren't actively negotiating with anyone at this moment," Johnson said. "There has been interest in him, but nothing that was exceptionally attractive to Etienne and our club and everybody. Anything could change at any moment though."

Johnson said Traffic Sports was involved with the Rusin deal. But finding a team wasn't hard since HB Koge had tried to acquire Rusin last season but the deal was reneged after the Danish team missed a league deadline to finalize the transaction.

In fact, the usual procedure, according to Johnson, is for the first contact to be made by another club.

Then the two sides discuss a transfer fee before the new club and the player discuss a new contract. After the transfer paperwork is signed by both clubs, the final step is for the old club to void the player's contract.

Johnson, a former general manager in the MLS, is familiar with how transfers work. But even with his experience in the field, he leaned on Traffic Sports to determine how much the RailHawks should make from the deal.

"They have a lot of expertise in this and a lot of ties around the world in terms of clubs and leagues," Johnson said. "I always use them as my sounding board as to where the market is in certain countries in terms of transfer fees and that type of thing."

Patterson-Sewell's move to Atlético Clube de Portugal will not bring in any financial gain to the RailHawks, as it was a free transfer.

The goalkeeper and Rennie talked before the season about moving Patterson-Sewell, who was a stalwart goalkeeper for the RailHawks in 2009, to a different team. He did not play a game this year.