Players and owners to announce labor deal

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Baseball officials briefed owners on details of their new labor contract Tuesday and planned to make the agreement public before Game 3 of the World Series. <br/><br/>Commissioner Bud

Tuesday, October 24th 2006, 2:42 pm

By: News On 6

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Baseball officials briefed owners on details of their new labor contract Tuesday and planned to make the agreement public before Game 3 of the World Series.

Commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr were to appear at a news conference Tuesday night in Busch Stadium. The five-year contract, which runs through the 2011 season, is subject to ratification by both sides.

Lawyers struck the deal last Friday night and Saturday during negotiations in New York, then worked on putting it in writing.

The current deal, reached in August 2002, is set to expire Dec. 19. After eight work stoppages between 1972 and 1995, baseball will be assured of 16 years of labor peace.

The deal continues, with minor modifications, existing luxury tax and revenue-sharing rules, provisions that funneled money from large-market teams to their competitors. Some amateur draft pick compensation for free agents who sign with new teams will be eliminated.

With the new labor contract, baseball's drug-testing rules also will be extended through the 2011 season. When the sides agreed to toughened drug-testing last November, they said that deal would run through the next labor contract.