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<p>IRVING, Texas &#8212; Negotiators for baseball players and owners have a verbal agreement on a five-year labor contract, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.</p><p>The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the sides were still putting the deal in writing. They hoped to have a signed memorandum of understanding later Wednesday.</p><p>The deal extends the sport&#8217;s labor peace to 26 years since 1995 and was reached about 3 1/2 hours before the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.</p><p>As part of the deal, the luxury tax threshold rises from $189 million to $195 million next year, $197 million in 2018, $206 million in 2019, $209 million in 2020 and $210 million in 2021, the person said.</p><p>Tax rates increase to 20 percent for first offenders, 30 percent for second offenders and 50 percent for third offenders. There also is a new surtax of 12 percent for teams 20 to 40 percent above the threshold, 40 percent for first offenders more than $40 million above the threshold and 42.5 percent for second or subsequent offenders more than $40 million above.</p><p>There will be a new penalty for signing certain free agents that could affect a team&#8217;s draft order. There is no change to limits on active rosters, which remain at 25 for most of the season and 40 from Sept. 1 on.</p><p>Management failed to obtain an international draft of amateurs residing outside the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada but did get a hard cap on each team&#8217;s annual bonus pool for those players.</p><p>Negotiators met through most of Tuesday night in an effort to increase momentum in the negotiations, which began during spring training. This is the third straight time the sides reached a new agreement before expiration, but in 2006 and 2011 a deal was struck weeks in advance.</p><p>Talks took place at a hotel outside Dallas where the players&#8217; association held its annual executive board meeting.</p><p>Tony Clark, the first former player to serve as executive director of the union, and others set up in a meeting room within earshot of a children&#8217;s choir practicing Christmas carols. A man dressed as Santa Claus waited nearby.</p><p>While there were no games to be lost at this point, baseball had faced the prospect of a hold on transactions and other offseason business only hours after the Mets finalized their $110 million, four-year contract for Yoenis Cespedes.</p><p>Baseball had eight work stoppages from 1972-95, the last a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that led to the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years. In 2002, an agreement was reached just before players were set to strike.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">FILE - At left, in a March 17, 2015, file photo, Major League Baseball Players Association executive and former Detroit Tigers first baseman Tony Clark talks to the media before a spring training exhibition baseball game in Lakeland, Fla. At right, in a May 19, 2016, file photo, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks to reporters during a news conference at Major League Baseball headquarters in New York. Negotiators for baseball players and owners are meeting this week in Irving, Texas, in an attempt to reach agreement on a collective bargaining agreement to replace the five-year contract that expires Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/File)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_113817322-9952384789a34bae8d80cf3a677b5eaa-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>FILE - At left, in a March 17, 2015, file photo, Major League Baseball Players Association executive and former Detroit Tigers first baseman Tony Clark talks to the media before a spring training exhibition baseball game in Lakeland, Fla. At right, in a May 19, 2016, file photo, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks to reporters during a news conference at Major League Baseball headquarters in New York. Negotiators for baseball players and owners are meeting this week in Irving, Texas, in an attempt to reach agreement on a collective bargaining agreement to replace the five-year contract that expires Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/File)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Stephen Hawkins and Ronald Blum</p><p>AP Sports Writers</p></bylineMeta></div>

AP source: MLB players, owners have verbal labor deal