Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has joined the list of potential Chicago Cubs buyers. “I submitted an app,” Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team’s finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn’t sure of the date.
The Cubs are up for sale because its owner, the Tribune Co., is selling itself to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell for $8.2 billion. That deal was contingent on the media company selling its non-core assets, including one of the most fabled franchises in sports at the end of the season.
Tribune chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has conceded it was a difficult decision, but one that “really makes sense for our shareholders.”
Several bidders with deep pockets are expected to make a run for the Cubs and possibly for Wrigley Field. So far the bidders include Mark Cuban and Chicago native Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns CEO who once ran the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Tribune, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday the family of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.’s founder Joe Ricketts also was considering a bid. Ricketts family representatives declined to comment on the report when contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Forbes magazine recently valued the Cubs at $592 million, making the team the fifth most valuable club in baseball. Experts speculate that bidding is expected to start at $600 million and could easily approach $800-900 million plus…which would mean Cuban might have to part with nearly half his estimated net worth of $1.8 billion if he plans to get the team.
Source [Forbes.com]
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