Owners Don’t Vote on Reopening Talks : Baseball: Link to a lockout in the spring is the primary concern.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Major league owners discussed a variety of labor-related subjects Wednesday but did not vote on whether to exercise their Dec. 11 option to reopen collective bargaining negotiations with the players’ union.

While the forced resignation of Commissioner Fay Vincent left the impression that the hard liners are in control, it is not certain they will battle with the union this winter. A reopener still seems likely, but it might not be tied to the threat of a spring lockout.

“There’s going to be change,” Pittsburgh Pirate chairman Douglas Danforth said of the compensation system on the third and last day of these special meetings. “There’s no question about it. We have too many economic problems, too many clubs in trouble.

“There’s also more of an openness on the part of individual clubs to look at the welfare of the whole game rather than their own self interest.”

The collective bargaining agreement expires after the 1993 season, but either side can call for a reopening of negotiations in December. The union, with record salaries and a major league average of more than $1 million per player, has no interest in reopening.

The owners’ interest is tempered by the risk that a lockout poses to the $401 million at stake in the final year of the national TV contracts and to the enthusiasm surrounding the National League debuts of the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins.

Sources who declined to be identified said Wednesday that a vote on reopening was delayed to give owners more time to try to placate the concerns of those two expansion clubs, to try to convince them that it is possible to reopen and negotiate without tying it to a lockout.

“These people have put up a lot of money and deserve consideration,” one owner said of the expansion clubs.

Said Carl Barger, president of the Marlins: “It would break my heart and it would break (owner) Wayne Huizenga’s heart to have a work stoppage, but some (owners) seem to feel that reopening and lockout are synonymous.

“If it’s determined to be in the best interest of the game, we’ll swallow hard and accept it, but we hope that rational minds prevail. I mean, it’s not in our game plan, not what we’re gearing up for.”

Jackie Autry, wife of Angel owner Gene Autry, said she favors reopening but opposes a lockout. She said that by reopening now the owners would have more than a year to try to negotiate the end to arbitration.

“We should negotiate now rather than waiting until the 11th hour again,” she said. “We always try to do it in a span of three or four months when both sides are under the gun and have the tendency to overreact. It’s a matter of education. A full year would enable us to better inform the players and fans as to why we need change and what we hope to accomplish.”

The owners met for almost six hours Wednesday, discussing salary caps and revenue sharing among other concepts. They also heard Neal Pilson, president of CBS Sports, echo the gloomy forecast delivered by NBC’s Dick Ebersol on Tuesday regarding the next national TV package.

Several owners said they were surprised by the absence of a vote on reopening, but Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and chairman of the ruling executive council, said none had been planned, that the discussion was designed as a catharsis, allowing respective clubs to express their views on reopening and other labor issues.

Selig said another meeting may be called before the winter convention, which is scheduled for the eve of the Dec. 11 deadline, to vote on reopening.