Cubs sale closer?
CHICAGO — The Tribune Co. took a significant step toward selling the Chicago Cubs to the Ricketts family, with the two sides sending documents describing a proposed deal to Major League Baseball for its review, several sources said Monday.
Some details of the deal are still being worked out, and sources on both sides expressed caution that nothing is final until a definitive agreement is signed. But they also indicated enough progress has been made to give MLB executives an advance read at what a deal would look like.
"We're just hopeful that the Tribune and the Ricketts family can finish the transaction, and we can move on with the next phase of our lives as we build on a new ownership group and, hopefully, win some baseball games," said Cubs chairman Crane Kenney.
Since January the Rickettses and Tribune Co. have been negotiating a sale worth about $900 million. But when talks appeared to stall in recent weeks, Tribune Co. renewed conversations with another buyer, raising questions about where the negotiations with the Ricketts family were headed.
Sending what one source described as "current draft agreements" related to a Cubs sale to Major League Baseball appears to put the family back in the driver's seat, though some sources familiar with the negotiations disagreed on whether to characterize the documents sent to MLB as a tentative sales agreement.
A spokesman for Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, said, "We continue an active dialogue with the Ricketts family with an eye toward reaching a definitive agreement. We don't intend to comment on the specifics of any potential transaction."
If a sale is finalized, the deal has to be approved by 75 percent of MLB's 30 owners.
A transaction also must pass muster with Tribune Co.'s creditors and a bankruptcy judge because the media company is operating under Chapter 11 protection.
A spokesman for Tom Ricketts, who is leading the family's bid, declined to comment.
Ricketts became a Cubs fan growing up in Omaha and watching the team play on WGN television. He moved to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago and has made Wilmette his home.
His father, Joe Ricketts, founded what is today TD Ameritrade Holdings Corp., one of the nation's largest online brokerages.
The Ricketts family was one of 10 prospective buyers who made bids for the team last year. Tribune Co. put the Cubs up for sale to help pay down debt from its going-private transaction engineered by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell.
Before the recession hit, some baseball observers predicted that Tribune Co. could garner more than $1 billion for the Cubs, the stadium and its 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, a regional cable sports network, because of the team's national fan base and regular sellouts.
In January, Tribune Co. selected the Ricketts family's bid of nearly $900 million over two other finalists to buy the Cubs and other assets.
But negotiations to reach a sales agreement have taken longer than anticipated. The Ricketts family faced hurdles securing debt to finance its offer because of the economic downturn and tight credit markets.
Talks hit another snag in May when the two sides could not agree on how to value the Cubs' broadcast rights. Tribune Co. owns those rights through its WGN subsidiaries and Comcast SportsNet.
The documents sent to baseball show how the Rickettses would finance the deal and the unusual capital structure the two sides have been negotiating. In the Cubs deal, sources said, a new partnership would be formed to own the assets Tribune Co. is unloading. Tribune Co. would retain about a 5 percent stake; the Rickettses, the rest.
