Opening day draws near for Cubs sale

May 7--More than a year after Tribune Co. announced it would sell the Chicago Cubs, the highly anticipated sale is expected to begin in earnest this week, with the official offering going to Major League Baseball, according to sources close to the process.

After reviewing the confidential financial memorandum, the league is expected to deliver it to six groups of potential buyers, kicking off what is expected to be torrid bidding in which the price could approach a record $1 billion.

The books had not gone out as of Tuesday, according to a source close to the situation. A Tribune Co. spokesman would not comment.

Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, announced last year that it would put the team up for sale as part of its going-private transaction led by billionaire Sam Zell, who became chairman and chief executive of the media company when the transaction was completed in December.

Leading the pack of potential buyers appears to be an assemblage headed by Madison Dearborn Partners Chairman John Canning, an 11 percent owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, who has a long-standing relationship with baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

The Canning group has "every leading citizen of Chicago," said a highly placed Major League Baseball source, who estimated the individuals in the group have a combined net worth of $10 billion to $15 billion.

"If you were to say, 'What are you looking for?' you're looking for a group of responsible people who are in it for the long term," the source said. "That kind of describes this group."

Canning's team comprises some of the city's heavy-hitters, such as McDonald's Corp. Chairman Andrew McKenna; Aon Corp. founder Patrick Ryan, who is leading the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics; industrialist Craig Duchossois; and restaurateurs Larry Levy and Richard Melman.

Five other groups are expected to receive the packets as well, sources say. The groups are believed to be those headed by Omaha's Ricketts family, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the partnership of attorney Thomas Mandler and businessman Jim Anixter, MVC Capital Chairman Michael Tokarz and private-equity investor Thomas Begel.

Any deal would require approval by three-fourths of the other 29 ballclub owners.

Asked what would happen if Tribune strikes a deal with an individual or group who is unacceptable to the owners, the MLB source said, "We turned down Eddie Gaylord [to purchase the Texas Rangers]. This is nothing new. In fact, the Chicago White Sox wouldn't be Reinsdorf's team if we hadn't turned down Eddie DeBartolo."

The outspoken Cuban, an Internet billionaire, may not play well with MLB, some observers have said.