Chicago Cubs owner Sam Zell won’t be allowed to sell the Chicago Cubs to Mark Cuban under any circumstances, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, quoting sources in the commissioner’s office
Chicago Cubs owner Sam Zell won’t be allowed to sell the Chicago Cubs to Mark Cuban under any circumstances, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, quoting sources in the commissioner’s office. The sale of the Cubs will stretch into 2009, mostly because Cubs and Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell has yet to pare the list of potential ownership groups down from the five currently on the short list. Cuban has been considered a frontrunner by many in the Tribune Co. because his was the highest initial bid — well over a billion dollars — and he was the one most willing to close the deal quickly, as opposed to other groups that would need to go raise money in the finance community. We’ve been saying for more than a year now that a group that includes John Canning Jr. — an investor in the Brewers and the minority owner of several minor-league teams — would have the advantage because they’re well-known to Bud Selig. Cuban represents everything MLB is not: he’s openly passionate about his teams, he’s not afraid to criticize his fellow owners, and he’s willing to spend money to build a winner. Of course, he’s not exactly spent wisely in Dallas — the Dallas Mavericks have not won a championship under Cuban’s ownership, and seems to have slipped in recent years — but culturally he’s just so much different than the existing, staid MLB ownership. Will he raise a fuss if he doesn’t land the team? If he does, he really has no recourse: Tribune Co. is now private and does not need to please shareholders.