Major League Baseball Days Away From Strike Deadline
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Major League Baseball is now just days away from Friday's strike deadline, but both players and owners concede that some progress was made over the weekend. Well, let's see what Josie Karp, our senior sports reporter, thinks about all that. She in the New York bureau this morning. Josie, what do you think about that? Has there been any progress made?</s>JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I would sat very limited progress over weekend. In fact, Saturday night was probably the low point of this entire negotiation that started back in January. The owners reacting very angrily and bitterly over a proposal they received from the players on the core economic issues. In fact, the lead negotiator for the owners said it was a regressive proposal and it moved the whole process backward, but they did get back to the table on Sunday, made another proposal, and they are expected to meet sometime again in next couple of hours. And just to summarize what is standing in the way between now and Friday, getting a deal done, there are really three things. One is drug testing. There was a lot made of excitement when players first came out, and said they would agree to some sort of steroids testing in this agreement. But the two sides are still far apart in terms of how this drug testing program is going to be implemented and how long it's going to last. They are talking about a four-year agreement, and that also figures into another one of the barriers, the luxury tax issue. One things the sides can't agree on is how long there will be a tax in effect on payrolls. Will it will be three years, like the players want, or will it be all four years like the owners want? And the last thing this stands in the way of an agreement is the idea of revenue sharing and just how much money will be transferred from team to team. It was the revenue sharing proposal that the players made on Saturday that the owner thought was so disappointing. So drug testing, luxury tax and revenue sharing, those are the three issues they are going to have to find some way to come to terms on between now and Friday afternoon, or there is going to be a walkout.</s>HARRIS: OK, Josie, real quick, any chance that Bud Selig can play a positive role here or what?</s>KARP: All along, the owner's chief negotiator said that if Bud feels in some point in time that it is important for him to actually be sitting at table, then he will be here. That hasn't happened yet.</s>HARRIS: All right, Josie Karp, stay on top of it for us.