Tribune ends first round of bids for Cubs, Wrigley

The Chicago Cubs and their storied Wrigley Field home inched closer to finding new owners Friday.

Tribune Co. _ which has not publicly set a timetable for the sale _ closed the preliminary round of bidding for the baseball team, stadium and the Cubs' 25 percent stake in a regional sports cable channel.

The company said it will not disclose the names of the bidders or the number of offers it received.

In June, Major League Baseball, which must approve the sale of any team, sent out financial books on the three properties to nine preapproved bidders.

The list reportedly includes a group headed by John Canning, chairman of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC; Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; and the family of online brokerage Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts.

Those three groups and others are believed to have bid on some or all of the properties.

A spokeswoman for Tribune CEO Sam Zell, a real estate mogul who orchestrated last year's $8.2 billion employee buyout of Tribune, confirmed the Friday deadline. She declined further comment.

Tribune is selling the ballpark and baseball team because it needs money to pay down billions of dollars in debt related to the buyout. The company previously sold an operating interest in Long Island, N.Y., daily Newsday and put up other assets as collateral to raise a combined $900 million to service the debt.

That money will cover a $650 million lump-sum debt payment Tribune must make in December, along with other short-term commitments.

"We have the liquidity we need for 2008," said Zell spokeswoman Terry Holt.

The company has to deliver on another $750 million payment in June 2009. The proceeds from selling the baseball assets are expected to cover that.

Including the Cubs' 25 percent stake in a Comcast Corp. regional sports cable channel, the baseball assets could sell for as much as $1 billion, sports economists have said.

Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College who specializes in sports, said the Cubs could fetch more than the record $660 million paid for the Boston Red Sox in 2002 by a group headed by billionaire commodities trader John Henry. Tribune paid $20.5 million for the team in 1981.

The star-crossed Cubs, "lovable losers" who last won the World Series 100 years ago, lead their division this season so far and are tied for the best record in baseball. Wrigley Field, which sells out consistently, is widely considered one of the best stadiums in the country for watching games because of its historic atmosphere. It is the nation's second-oldest baseball stadium after Fenway Park in Boston.

Tribune is accepting bids for the individual properties or any combination of the three.

A person familiar with the Ricketts family's bid who requested anonymity because of nondisclosure agreements between the parties said the family is interested in the total package.

Cuban did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Tribune is expected to whittle down the proposals to three or four bidders. It will then make available to them all relevant financial information and accept new bids in a second round. The final sale must be approved by three-quarters of MLB owners.

Zell made clear when he led the buyout of Tribune that he would auction the baseball assets. His decision to sell Newsday surprised the industry because he had said he intended to keep intact Tribune's publishing assets, which include the flagship Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times and Baltimore's Sun.

The buyout team expected revenue from those assets would cover payments on the immense debt.

But newspapers across the country have seen newsprint costs rise and advertising and circulation revenue plummet this year as advertisers follow readers online. Newspaper Web sites capture only a wee fraction of the revenue lost as they sell fewer print ads, which fetch more money.

To trim costs, Tribune has announced hundreds of layoffs at its papers and decreased the page count of print editions.

Most recently the company said it would consider ways to squeeze money from its real estate holdings. Media reports said the company might sell its iconic Tribune Tower in Chicago and its Los Angeles headquarters, known as Times Mirror Square.

Zell's spokeswoman would not confirm whether those properties are on the block yet, but said there has been "no movement" with either.

Another option for Tribune is to sell its roughly 30 percent stake in Food Network to Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., which owns the rest of the rapidly growing cable TV channel. Analysts estimate that stake could be worth well over $500 million.