ANALYSIS: $3 MILLION DIVIDE SOME HOPE REMAINS THAT BASEBALL STRIKE CAN BE AVERTED.Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer HOUSTON - As negotiators for Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. and the players association met deep into Thursday night in hopes of avoiding a potentially catastrophic strike, it seemed the separation of $8 million in the luxury tax wouldn't be enough to force a work stoppage. Management increased its luxury-tax threshold to $112 million. The players association dropped their amount to $120 million. Clubs that cross the luxury-tax line would pay a penalty for every dollar over. In a business that generates billions annually, $8 million seems insignificant, like splurging for a cup of coffee. Yet, the basis for the $8 million gap actually is extraordinary because this isn't a negotiation about a dollar figure as much as it is about a philosophy, and the pay scale. It is about management's desire to cap its own spending, to police itself against issuing burdensome contracts to bring in marquee players, after it had learned it boxed itself into a financial corner by investing so much in a player and not being able to pay other players. And it is about the players association recognizing what a luxury tax does, i.e. curb spending and lower the value of a player on the free market. Management wants to be able to reign in about seven or eight clubs. Players are willing to limit the Yankees' spending but allow everyone else to spend as they already spent. Since each side moved $5 million off its mark in Thursday morning's wee hours, optimism spread throughout the industry. Officials from several teams thought negotiations were going well enough that an agreement would be reached before St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs were to play at 12:20 PDT PDT abbr. Pacific Daylight Time PDT Pacific Daylight Time PDT n abbr (US) (= Pacific Daylight Time) → hora de verano del Pacífico PDT today at Wrigley Field For the former ballpark in Los Angeles, see . • • [ , the first of 15 games on today's schedule. Several issues remained - the contraction of two teams, which the union strongly opposes, and the sharing of local market revenues - but it was the luxury tax, based on figures for the 40-man roster and not just the major-league 25-man roster, that stood as the chief obstacle. The $112 million line drawn by owners, using a payroll derived from salaries, bonuses and deferred contracts, means six teams - the New York Yankees  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ($131.4 million), the Dodgers ($118.1 million), Boston ($114.8 million), the New York Mets
Ownership wants the tax rate to be 35 cents for every dollar over $112 million this season. The luxury-tax line and the percentage of luxury tax paid would increase in the next three years. The mere threat of a luxury tax was a driving force behind first-year Dodgers general manager Dan Evans trimming payroll last offseason. Such a thought deeply concerned the players association since the Dodgers, under general manager Kevin Malone
Kevin Malone is a fictional character from the US television series, The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. , set the salary structure with the signings of Kevin Brown The name Kevin Brown can refer to several different people, including the following:
While the players association was mindful that ownership's proposal is designed to harness escalating salaries, owners believe the players association's proposal of a first-year, $120 million luxury tax wouldn't impact spending outside of the Bronx. The only team to surpass the players association sand-drawn line was the Yankees. The union wants the luxury tax to begin at 15 percent and climb no higher than 45 percent in the third year of the deal. It proposes no luxury tax for the fourth year of the agreement. This proposed luxury tax, which should appear in some form in the new collective-bargaining agreement, appears to be much harsher than the one instituted after the last work stoppage, but the results might be similar. That luxury tax ran through 1999 and was based on a sliding scale slid·ing scale n. A scale in which indicated prices, taxes, or wages vary in accordance with another factor, as wages with the cost-of-living index or medical charges with a patient's income. . The old luxury tax penalized pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. the top five spending teams and was derived by taking the average of the fifth- and sixth-highest payrolls. In the final year of that agreement, the top five teams were penalized 35 cents for every dollar by which they exceeded the cap. As long as six teams spent money, there was some form of protection for the top five teams. The union also wasn't interested in adding a minimum spending limit because it would contradict their luxury-tax philosophy of not putting a limit on how much a team should spend. The splitting of revenue is another issue since it penalizes the large-market clubs, which, in turn, would have less money to spend. Ownership wants 36 percent of local revenues to be placed into a central fund, then distributed to all teams. The players association contends that would mean a team such as the Yankees or Dodgers would spend more in revenue sharing revenue sharing Funding arrangement in which one government unit grants a portion of its tax income to another government unit. For example, provinces or states may share revenue with local governments, or national governments may share revenue with provinces or states. and have less to spend on players, and, at the same time, small-market clubs wouldn't use that money to sign more players. As a result, the players want to phase in a revenue-sharing plan that tops out at 33.3 percent. The players association also is concerned about the loss of 80 jobs (two teams' 40-man rosters) if two teams are contracted, and believes the elimination of teams must be negotiated and not unilaterally enforced. Union chief Donald Fehr Donald Fehr (born July 18, 1946) graduate of Indiana University, and alum of Sigma Alpha Mu Sigma Zeta chapter is the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He has held the position since 1986. and his negotiators were prepared to be in baseball's offices early into this morning to get a deal done. The proximity of numbers indicated to many that an agreement was possible, if not probable, but it would take a considerable philosophical bend on either side or both sides to avoid baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972. WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? MAJOR ISSUES Contraction OWNERS: Want to eliminate two franchises PLAYERS: Opposed to contraction Drug Testing An agreement apparently has been reached to test random players for two years for steroids. If 5 percent or more of those tests come back positive in either year, mandatory testing would be required for all players. The owners originally wanted nutritional supplements Nutritional Supplements Definition Nutritional supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs, meal supplements, sports nutrition products, natural food supplements, and other related products used to boost the nutritional content of the diet. such as the testosterone-booster androstenedione androstenedione /an·dro·stene·di·one/ (-di-on) an androgenic steroid produced by the testis, adrenal cortex, and ovary; converted metabolically to testosterone and other androgens. and ``recreational'' drugs such as marijuana and cocaine included. Luxury Tax OWNERS: To slow salary growth, they would like a 50 percent luxury tax on the portions of payrolls above $107 million, with the threshold increasing to $111 million in 2006, and proposed tax rates of 35-50 percent. PLAYERS: Have offered thresholds of $125 million to $145 million, and tax rates of 15-50 percent, with no tax in the final year. Revenue Sharing OWNERS: Hoping to decrease revenue disparity, they have proposed increasing revenue sharing from 20 percent to 36 percent. Under the current system, called a split-pool plan, each team contributes 20 percent of its net local revenue, after deductions for ballpark expenses, to a pool. Seventy-five percent of the pool is redistributed re·dis·trib·ute tr.v. re·dis·trib·ut·ed, re·dis·trib·ut·ing, re·dis·trib·utes To distribute again in a different way; reallocate. Adj. 1. equally to all 30 teams, and 25 percent is redistributed only to the teams with local revenue below the major-league average. PLAYERS: They have agreed only to a 33.3 percent increase of the split-pool plan, and want it phased in gradually. MINOR ISSUES Commissioner's Discretionary Fund OWNERS: Have proposed that the commissioner can take $85 million from the central fund - where money goes from national broadcasting and licensing contracts - and distribute it unequally to teams. Because the money is to be taken equally from every team - $2.83 million each - at most $45 million could be transferred to the 14 teams with the least revenue. PLAYERS: Have proposed moving $40 million unequally from the central fund to the low-revenue teams. Salary Arbitration OWNERS: Want to be able to release players after salary-arbitration figures are exchanged each Jan. 18. PLAYERS: Oppose changes, because they fear owners' proposal would create a glut glut pronounced as rut, slut Vox populi An excess of a service or skilled labor in a particular area. See Physician glut. of free agents in January, thus lowering demand. Amateur Draft OWNERS: Would open the annual draft each June - currently limited to players in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. (including Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. ) and Canada - to players from around the world, and cut it from 50 rounds to 38 rounds. Would allow teams to trade draft picks, with some restrictions. PLAYERS: Have agreed to the worldwide draft but have proposed 16 rounds. Worried that college juniors and seniors, junior-college players and high school seniors (the group currently eligible) would be given preference over the newly eligible players, they want owners to centralize cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. academies in Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. that currently are run by individual teams, which would increase the knowledge of those players among all teams. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Fans in Philadelphia use sign language Thursday night to express their strong feelings about the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. strike by major-league baseball players. Rusty Kennedy/Associated Press (2) Kevin Brown's seven-year, $105 million contract with the Dodgers is the kind owners want to avoid via a luxury tax. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer Box: WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? (see text) |
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