NEW YORK - Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union agreed to a five-year collective bargaining agreement Saturday, ending a threatened strike that jeopardized the start of season next week.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber and union Executive Director Bob Foose jointly announced the agreement on a conference call with reporters from the Washington site of the negotiations, which were nearly continuous since Thursday, the two said.

The agreement grants the players more rights with regards to guaranteed contracts and a pay increase but stopped short of the players' demand for free agency within MLS, Garber said.

MLS is a single entity league in which the league, not the individual clubs, pay the players. The structure, which was upheld by U.S. federal court in 2000, keeps teams within the league from competing for players.

If a player's contract expired, he could sign with a team in another league, but his MLS rights were retained by the last club he played with. The new agreement will allow a player, if he cannot negotiate agreeable teams with his old team, to be placed in a re-entry draft.

Neither Garber nor Foose would disclose further details, explaining they wanted clubs and rank-and-file players to be informed, but that more information would be forthcoming.

The contract was reached with the assistance of U.S. government mediator George Cohen, who had joined the negotiations two weeks ago.

The old contract had expired January 31, but the two continued under the pact until Saturday. While the league said it was willing to start the season under the previoyus pact, players had threatened to strike if a new agreement was not reached by Thursday's season opener between the Seattle Sounders and the expansion Philadelphia Union.

"We have a deep appreciation for the commitment shown by the (club) owners both historically and through this process to make MLS one of the top leagues in the world," Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder and MLSPU executive committee member Landon Donovan said.