Top U.S. Players Back in the Fold

The U.S. Soccer Federation ended its threat to use replacement minor leaguers in a World Cup qualifier next month, reaching an agreement Friday with the national team’s union that calls for a pay increase in exchange for a no-strike pledge through 2005.

The agreement came one day after the bickering sides met for the first time with a federal mediator. Players will be paid at the rate of the USSF’s latest offer, which management calculates as a 38% increase over the contract that expired in December 2002, a figure the union disputes. Any increase in the next contract would be retroactive to January 2003.

Regular national team stars such as Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley will now be brought in for the Feb. 9 game at Trinidad and Tobago, the first of 10 final-round qualifiers.

Under the interim deal, players will be paid $2,750 a qualifier, up from $2,000 in qualifying for 2002. The bonus for each win, which had been $2,200 to $4,000, depending on the opponent and whether the game was in the U.S. or abroad, will rise to $6,250 for games against Mexico and Costa Rica, and to $4,750 against Guatemala, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.

Motor Racing

Financial problems will keep Adrian Fernandez from driving this year in the Indy Racing League. Mexican newspapers have reported that two of his longtime backers, Telmex and Tecate, either dropped or sharply reduced sponsorship.

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Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where Indy car-type races have been run since 1983, has been dropped from the 2005 Champ Car World Series. Joe Chrnelich, Champ Car vice president, said there were “date conflicts and economic issues.”

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The late J.C. Agajanian, one of motor racing’s most successful promoters and team owners, has been chosen as the winner of the sixth annual Eagle One-Shav Glick Award.

The award recognizes distinguished contribution to motorsports in California.

Agajanian’s sons, Cary, Chris and J.C. Jr., will accept the award, named for The Times’ motorsports writer, during ceremonies Feb. 27 before NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Agajanian died in 1984 at 71.

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Benny Parsons, Tom Sneva and Hurley Haywood are among nine racing greats who have been selected for induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America this year.

Parsons, 1973 Winston Cup champion; Sneva, 1983 Indianapolis 500 winner; and Haywood, three-time Daytona 24-Hour winner, will be joined by drag racer Tommy Ivo, motorcycle racer Jay Springsteen, powerboat racer Danny Foster, car owner-builders John Holman and Ralph Moody, and 1952 Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman.

Induction ceremonies are scheduled Aug. 18 in Detroit.

Miscellany

NHL Players’ Assn. President Trevor Linden said he was “pushed away” by NHL representatives during two days of talks that failed to end the 5-month-old labor dispute. Linden said the league remains firm on adopting a salary cap.

“If we can’t sit in a room and have a mutual discussion and work around each other’s problems to get to an agreement, then what are we looking at?” Linden said.

Bill Daly, the NHL’s chief legal officer, said no new talks were planned. “I would imagine both sides will review where things stand and will make a decision as to how to move the process forward,” he said via e-mail.

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South Carolina football player Brian Brownlee has been charged with stealing more than $10,500 worth of computer and video equipment from the school’s stadium, university officials announced. He is the sixth player to be charged.

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The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals has expanded its schedule from 12 to 14 tournaments and has doubled its total prize money to $3 million, the tour announced.

The season begins April 1-3 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Local stops are: Santa Barbara, May 20-22; San Diego, June 10-12; Hermosa Beach, July 21-24; Huntington Beach, Aug. 11-14, and Manhattan Beach, Aug. 18-21.