(FORTUNE Magazine) – A great American newspaper rivalry ended when the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press agreed to merge all but their news operations. It would be the largest, and perhaps the last, joint operating agreement between big-city dailies. The two papers will be run jointly by Gannett Co., which recently bought the News, and Knight-Ridder Newspapers, which owns the Free Press. The liberal Free Press will continue to publish on weekday mornings, the more conservative News in the afternoon. On weekends the two papers will be combined. Detroit's long circulation war never produced a winner. The News held a slight edge, but the rivalry depressed revenues at both papers. The News lost about $20 million over the past five years, the Free Press some $35 million. The combined business will have fewer employees and higher advertising and circulation rates. John Morton, a security analyst with the brokerage firm Lynch Jones & Ryan, projects operating profits of $13.5 million the first year, $40 million the second, and $57 million the third. | If the deal wins antitrust approval, Detroit will join just two cities with jointly operated dailies: Cincinnati and Seattle. The mergers were lucrative in both cities, but new joint agreements are unlikely. In the 21 other cities with two rival papers, at least one of the competitors is profitable and thus uninterested in a merger. Detroit is unique in having two losing giants and a troubled economy too small to support them.