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Baseball players and management reach agreement

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig called it a "historic" agreement, and indeed it was a rare event. Nearly two months before the expiration of the old deal, the MLB Players Association and the league agreed to a new five year collective Bargaining Agreement that assures labor peace in the sport through the 2011 season. This, the longest deal ever reached between the two organizations, is similar to the deal signed in 2002.

These are extremely good days for the sport. MLB is expected to generate $5.2 billion in revenue this season, a fact that contributed to the successful talks. Fourteen years ago, the league generated a quarter of this amount, and four years ago the talks almost culminated with a players strike. The league and the relationship between the players and management have come a long way since the 1994 strike that cost them the world Series.

The agreement keeps the luxury tax clause of 2002, with adjusted amounts. High spending clubs spending more than $148 million in 2007 will be taxed. The threshold will rise to $178 million in 2011. Selig praised the economic structure, attributing to it the league parity, with this year`s champion being the seventh World Series champion in seven years.