With three hours before the current collective bargaining agreement expired, and with the threat of a lockout in the absence of a new one, Major League Baseball players and owners agreed to a new five-year deal.
The pact would extend through 2021, which would mark 26 years without a strike or lockout. In the previous 24 years, MLB had eight work stoppages.
The new deal is believed to be limited to incremental changes, a recognition by both sides that a sport now generating $10 billion a year had become far too lucrative to risk a shutdown.
Neither the owners nor players had announced the new agreement as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, but various media reports confirmed details that include a modest rise in the amount teams can spend before being assessed with a luxury tax, a restriction on bonuses for international amateurs rather than a draft for those players, and limiting how many teams would be subject to surrendering a draft pick or signing a free agent.
