SportsDystopia

In 1981, the Tribune Company paid 20.5 million dollars to buy the Chicago Cubs.  Tribune Company, which is now privately owned by real estate mogul Sam Zell, has been in the protracted process of selling the team for nearly 2 years now, at a price of somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars.  Among the five final bidders is fan favorite, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.  Cubs fans and the non-Tribune owned Chicago sports media have been nearly unanimous in their backing of Cuban, who’s courtside antics at Mavs games combined with his willingness to milk the reality TV teet have turned him into sports’ only real celebrity owner.  His high profile and willingness to spend have convinced the Wrigley faithful that Cuban is their man.

But knowledgeable observers have long claimed that comissioner Bud Selig and baseball’s owners would never allow Cuban to purchase the Cubs, a claim that seemed to gain credibility this week when an anonymous MLB figure essentially said as much.  “There’s no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen.  Zero chance.”  This in spite of Cuban being the highest bidder for the team, reportedly submitting an offer of 1.3 billion dollars.

The Cubs sale is necessary because Tribune Company is currently carrying 12 and a half billion dollars of debt, mostly due to the way Zell’s buyout of the company was structured.  A 600 million dollar payment is due in June.  Given that Cuban’s bid was the largest by far, one has to believe that the anonymous source is accurate in claiming Selig’s hidden hand has kept the sale from moving forward.

It seems increasingly likely that the sale will not be completed this offseason.  The writing on the wall was most visible when the team decided to give GM Jim Hendry a new contract, an unlikely move for an organization supposedly expecting a pending change in ownership.

Cubs fans should expect 2 things going forward.  First, that the sale will continue to drag on with no real progress for reasons that are never made publicly known.  Tribune Company has always operated the Chicago Tribune’s sports section as a sort of Cubs Pravda, and reliable information comes forth rarely, and usually is read between the lines.  Second, the organization’s lingering debt and uncertainty will hamstring the ability of the team to make positive on-field changes this coming offseason.  Above all, we can be certain that when the Cubs don’t make the necessary moves this offseason to try to take the next step towards winning that elusive title, the Tribune won’t be forthcoming with honest justifications.

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