Length

        The agreement starts with the 2002 season and runs through Dec.19, 2006.

Luxury tax

        Teams will be taxed on the portions above a certain payroll. The money will be used for player benefits - including the player benefit plan - or the industry growth fund, or developing baseball players in countries lacking organized high school baseball. The thresholds are as follows:

        2002-No tax; 2003-$117 million; 2004-$120.5 million; 2005-$128 million; 2006-$136.5 million

        The following tax rates apply:

        1st time over threshold: 17.5 percent in 2003, 22.5 percent in 2004 and 2005, no tax in 2006

        2nd time over threshold: 30 percent

        3rd and 4th times over threshold: 40 percent

        Luxury taxes expire on the final day of the 2006 season, meaning that if the sides play under the status quo in 2007, there would be no tax.

        Payrolls are for 40-man rosters and include averages of multiyear contracts; health and pension benefits; clubs' medical costs; insurance; workman's compensation, payroll, unemployment and Social Security taxes; spring training allowances; meal and tip money; All-Star Game expenses; travel and moving expenses; postseason pay; and college scholarships.

Revenue sharing

        Base plan-Each team contributes 34 percent of its net local revenue, after deductions for ballpark expenses, to a pool that is redistributed equally to all 30 teams.

        Central fund component-$72.2 million annually, taken from teams that are net payers in base plan and redistributed to teams that are net receivers in base plan. The central fund component phases in at 60 percent in 2003, 80 percent in 2004 and 100 percent in 2005 and 2006. It is collected by taking a figure in which the numerator is $72.2 million and the denominator is total net local revenue after ballpark expenses of all payer clubs, and multiplying the figure by a payer club's total net local revenue after ballpark expenses. It is redistributed on a split-pool basis based on distance from the average.

        Commissioner's Discretionary Fund - A total of $10 million - $333,333 from each team - is taken from the central fund for distribution by the commissioner.

Drug testing

        All players will be randomly tested for illegal steroids in 2003 as a survey. If 5 percent or more test positive in any survey year, mandatory random testing will take place the following two years. If 2.5 percent or fewer test positive in consecutive years, mandatory random testing will cease. When there is not mandatory random testing, there will be survey testing. The first time a player tests positive during mandatory random testing, he is placed in a treatment program. For subsequent positive tests, penalties range from a 30-day to a two-year suspension.

Amateur draft

        The sides will establish a committee to establish rules for a worldwide amateur draft, which it will try to have in place for June 2003. Clubs have proposed 38 rounds; players 20. The committee will make the determination. The committee will consider whether teams should be allowed to trade draft picks and the negotiating rights to selected players. If a team fails to sign a first-round draft pick, it will receive a corresponding pick in the first round of the following year's amateur draft (example: if a team fails to sign the No.2 overall pick, it would be awarded an extra pick immediately following the No.2 pick in the following draft). If a team fails to sign a second-round draft selection, it will receive a pick in the sandwich round between the second and third rounds the following year. Order of selection for the sandwich round will be determined by inverse standings.

Contraction

        Teams may not be eliminated through the 2006 season. Clubs may elect to eliminate two teams for 2007 but must notify players by July1, 2006. If clubs elect to contract for 2007, the union would not contest to the National Labor Relations Board that contraction is a mandatory subject of bargaining. If clubs elect to contract, they need not name teams at that time.

Minimum salary

        The first figure is the major-league rate and the second is the minor-league rate for players with split contracts appearing on a 40-man roster for two or more years:

        2002-$200,000/$40,500

        2003-$300,000/$50,000

        2004-$300,000/$50,000

        2005-$300,000/$50,000 plus two-year cost-of-living adjustment

        2006-2005 minimums, plus one-year cost-of-living adjustment

Debt

        A team may not have more debt than 10 times EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization), except a team that has moved into a newly constructed ballpark within the past 10 years may not have more debt than 15 times EBIDTA. There will be a three-year grace period, during which the commissioner has the right to retain the debt service rule, fully implemented. If he so elects, the commissioner must revoke the 60-40 assets-to-debt ratio rule. If he doesn't want to revoke the 60-40 rule, the debt-service rule becomes fully implemented.

Interleague play

        Interleague play, which had been agreed to on a test basis in 1997-2001 , is agreed to for the length of the contract

Free agent draft pick compensation

        Draft-pick compensation for losing Type A and Type B free agents is eliminated.

Benefits plan

        The clubs' contribution will be $114 million to $115 million annually, up from $70 million in 2002.

Allowances

        Spring training and in-season allowances will be increased at the rate of the Consumer Price Index.

Waivers

>         Each year will be divided into four waiver periods instead of three. The current periods are Nov.11 to day 30 of the season, day 31 to July31, and Aug.1 to Nov. 10. The first period will be divided into Nov.11 to Feb.15, and Feb.16 to day 30.

Injury rehabilitation

        Players with less than five years of major-league service can be directed for no more than 20 days to undergo baseball-related rehabilitation at a team's spring training facility. However, starting with the 11th day, each day at the spring training site would be deducted from the limit on a rehabilitation assignment to the minor leagues for the player, currently a maximum of 30 days for pitc

        Players with less than five years of major-league service can be directed for no more than 20 days to undergo baseball-related rehabilitation at a team's spring training facility. However, starting with the 11th day, each day at the spring training site would be deducted from the limit on a rehabilitation assignment to the minor leagues for the player, currently a maximum of 30 days for pitchers and 20 days for others.

Second medical opinions

&         A provision that divided the United States into three regions, and required a player to pay for his transportation if he went out of his region, is eliminated.

        All contract tenders to unsigned players on 40-man rosters will be made by the commissioner's office instead of individual teams.

        Information obtained by The Associated Press from player and management sources.

Reds should benefit from deal Baseball deal has something for everyone DAUGHERTY: Free money should mean free agents Highlights of the labor deal Reds relieved to keep playing Twins saved; Expos to D.C.? Bows, barbs for Selig Deal lifts burden from Boone Brewers 9, Reds 4 Reds Box, Runs Reds Notebook: Glove earns Stinnett more time Brewers end strange day with high five Cardinals 6, Cubs 3 Astros 8, Dodgers 4 Royals 5, Mariners 1 Angels 6, Orioles 2 Athletics 4, Twins 2 Giants 7, Diamondbacks 6 Padres 2, Rockies 0

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