Here's a tip, May 20-21 TRBCQ finalize Cubs Sale, should see a pgpdq move or better, runs like a rabbit with volume
Tribune Co. needs a closer to salt away Chicago Cubs deal
By Ameet Sachdev | Tribune reporter
May 6, 2009
The sale of the Chicago Cubs has taken on the timeless quality of a baseball game.
Cubs officials first hoped to close the $900 million deal with the Ricketts family by the start of the baseball season in April. What could be more perfect than beginning a season with a new owner to perhaps change the hapless team's fortunes?
Opening Day came and went. Then, Sam Zell, chairman of Tribune Co., which is selling the team, told a news outlet that he expected to complete the transaction by the end of May. The second deadline carried more practical significance, as both sides were eager to present a deal to baseball owners, who have to approve the change in ownership, in time for their quarterly meeting May 20-21.
Despite good intentions on both sides, the transaction will not be completed by the owners meeting, said sources familiar with the negotiations. But a second blown deadline is not an indication that the deal is in trouble, sources said.
Spokesmen for Tribune Co. and Tom Ricketts, a Chicago investment banker who is leading his family's bid for Cubs, declined to comment.
Sources blamed the slow pace of negotiations on several factors. The recession and a financial-sector meltdown has made it difficult for the Ricketts family to secure financing. The family raised $400 million for the deal by selling personal stock holdings and planned to borrow the rest.
The need for loans is being partly being driven by Tribune Co.'s desire to minimize taxes in selling the Cubs, Wrigley Field and a 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, a regional sports network. Tribune Co.'s plan also requires the company to carry a small ownership interest in the package of assets going forward, further complicating the documentation of the transaction.
Finally, lawyers on both sides need to make sure the complex deal will gain approval from a bankruptcy judge. Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, filed for Chapter 11 protection in December.
Still, the longer negotiations drag on, the more chance there is for the unexpected. Zell knows this firsthand. The lengthy auction for the team got sidetracked by the unexpected financial meltdown last fall and the bankruptcy filing, which probably hurt the value of the franchise. When Zell put the team up for sale in 2007, many predicted that team might fetch more than $1 billion.
Now, both sides are reluctant to put a timetable on completing the deal.
asachdev@tribune.com
