Baseball owners meet to consider labor deal

CHICAGO - Six days after their negotiators agreed to a tentative labor contract, baseball owners gather to consider ratifying the deal that averted a player strike. <br> <br> Nothing has been signed yet, and negotiators for players and owners are drafting a memorandum of understanding, which they hope to complete by next week. The executive board of the players&#39; association also must ratify the agreement. <br> <br> ``It is our intention to ratify before the season is over,&#39;&#39; union lawyer Michael Weiner said.<br> <br> A majority is needed for approval by the owners, except for the provisions dealing with revenue sharing, which require at least 23 of the 30 votes. <br> <br> Six years ago, approving a collective bargaining agreement took as many turns as a ballgame. After his negotiator reached an agreement with the players&#39; association, commissioner Bud Selig refused to publicly discuss the deal for more than two months, then submitted it to owners without any recommendation. <br> <br> When teams voted that Nov. 6, they rejected the contract 18-12. Twenty-one days later - after Selig recommended approval - owners ratified the deal in a 26-4 vote, with Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City and Oakland opposed. <br> <br> ``A long and winding road has come to an end,&#39;&#39; Selig said that day, speaking at the same Chicago airport hotel where owners met Thursday.<br> <br> This time, he immediately acknowledged the tentative agreement, appearing one hour after it was completed at a news conference in New York with union head Donald Fehr. <br> <br> The contract, which expires in December 2006, increases the amount of shared local revenue from 20 percent to 34 percent, institutes a luxury tax with fixed thresholds from 2003 to 2006, increases the minimum salary from $200,000 to $300,000 and provides for mandatory random testing for illegal steroids, which will start next season on a survey basis. <br> <br> ``This agreement will make significant contributions to restoring competitive balance,&#39;&#39; Selig said. <br> <br> The agreement was reached 3 1/2 hours before the first game that would have been affected by a strike, which would have been baseball&#39;s ninth work stoppage since 1972. The last labor deal achieved without a stoppage had been in 1970.<br> <br> Next up for owners is the status of the Montreal Expos. Selig attempted to fold the team last offseason along with the Twins, but baseball&#39;s contraction plan was blocked by the Minnesota courts, which forced the Twins to honor their lease at the Metrodome. <br> <br> Under the new labor contract, contraction is prohibited through 2006. The Expos, who were bought by the other 29 teams earlier this year, may be sold, possibly to a group that would attempt to move the franchise to Washington. <br> <br> Selig said in January possible franchise relocations would be addressed only after a labor deal and said Washington was the prime candidate.

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