Curve for Cubs bidders: Trib stalls on sale
Team sale heads into 2008; Trib may still own on opening day

The effort to sell the Chicago Cubs has slowed to a crawl as the team’s owner brainstorms ways to reap maximum cash from its pinstriped asset.

Yea, it’s called ‘extending the bidding war’.

“There’s no hard deadline, and I don’t think that the interest in this asset is going to dwindle,” says the person familiar with the planning.
“The groups that you’ve heard publicly that are interested in this deal, none of them have said, nor do I expect they will say, ‘If I can’t own it by April 1, 2008, I’m taking my money and I’m going home.’ “

Well, of course not, anyone who buys the team will be thinking about the long term and not buying the Cubs with an eye on making fast buck, unlike the guy buying the Tribune Corp. who is helping to create this mess.

In the meantime, Tribune is exploring ways to create new revenue streams to help fund the Cubs’ player payroll, which was a team record $110 million this year.
“We want to raise revenue so we can continue to put a winning product on the field and do everything we can to enhance Wrigley Field and to make a long-term commitment to this ballpark,” Cubs President John McDonough said in a recent interview. He declines to discuss the sale.

Read: You can stop dreaming about A-Rod, kids. This mess means no big free agent singings this winter. You can take that to the bank.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Cubs For Sale. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.