Winning Bidder Could Be Announced Within A Week

[ruby23]

<!--quoteo(post=13163:date=Jan 22 2009, 08:06 PM:name=Clapp)-->QUOTE (Clapp @ Jan 22 2009, 08:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Everybody's confirming they're the winner and it's 900 million.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And by dragging this shit out and taking so long, Zell didn't get what he probably could have. Nice.

[SandbergMVP1984]

Fuck yeah Ricketts and scurvy!

[Dirk]

So...this is a good thing? Anyone have a scouting report on this guy? All I know so far is that he lives in the Mormon district.

[savant]

All we need to know is that Butch has his ear.

[Clapp]

Ruby and I made posts at the same time so this may have gone unnoticed on the last page:
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Late today, the Ricketts family released the following statement:

The Tribune Company has informed us today that our family has been selected for exclusive negotiations to buy the Chicago Cubs.

We would like to thank the Tribune Company for overseeing a fair and competitive process and we look forward to working with the Tribune and Major League Baseball to close the transaction promptly.

We will have more to say publicly when this process is completed. If we succeed in buying the team, our work will just be beginning.

"My family and I are Cubs fans," said Tom Ricketts, the family's point person in the Cubs purchase. "We share the goal of Cubs fans everywhere to win a World Series and build the consistent championship tradition that the fans deserve."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Link

[HTC]

I keep reading comments on MLBTradeRumors, which can be entertaining, but I've read a couple of times tonight that Ricketts has said in the Tribune that he would tell Hendry to get Peavy in town if he got the team. I still haven't seen a link.

[HTC]

Although I do believe he'll approve a deal.

[CCwinwssoon]

[ "My family and I are Cubs fans," said Tom Ricketts, the family's point person in the Cubs purchase. "We share the goal of Cubs fans everywhere to win a World Series and build the consistent championship tradition that the fans deserve."[/quote]
Link
[/quote]

They better mean this AND know how to do it.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=13177:date=Jan 22 2009, 09:07 PM:name=Clapp)-->QUOTE (Clapp @ Jan 22 2009, 09:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->Late today, the Ricketts family released the following statement:

The Tribune Company has informed us today that our family has been selected for exclusive negotiations to buy the Chicago Cubs.

We would like to thank the Tribune Company for overseeing a fair and competitive process and we look forward to working with the Tribune and Major League Baseball to close the transaction promptly.

We will have more to say publicly when this process is completed. If we succeed in buying the team, our work will just be beginning.

"My family and I are Cubs fans," said Tom Ricketts, the family's point person in the Cubs purchase. "We share the goal of Cubs fans everywhere to win a World Series and build the consistent championship tradition that the fans deserve."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Link
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub.gif[/img]

[twitterwoods]

If we couldn't have had Cuban , who seems to have never had a serious shot in the first place, Ricketts was a close second. Glad he won.

[Clapp]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Landmark ordinances will prohibit too many changes to Wrigley, but fans should expect some kind of face lift in the coming years.

"We want to see this [deal] finished," Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said at last weekend's Cubs Convention. "It hasn't distracted us much from our mission. We have a lot of things we want to do, what we call 'Wrigley 2014,' which are the plans for the outside design and all the things we want to get done, and you can't do it without an owner to help direct you."

The year 2014 is the 100th anniversary of Wrigley, a season that will be celebrated no matter who the owner is. The Cubs have big plans for the concourse behind home plate and other areas they believe need updating. Last March at spring training, Kenney outlined a plan that would update concessions and restrooms and bring in new revenue streams as well.

Among the biggest projects on the table is the so-called triangle building that would be located just west of the park. A parking lot idea has been scuttled, but the Cubs have planned on building restaurants, a Hall of Fame and workout facilities for Cubs players.

"Everyone has heard about the triangle building forever," Kenney said last spring. "It didn't get built. It has to get built. It's holding us back. It's holding performance on the field back.

"We don't have adequate player facilities. We don't have a batting tunnel to prepare yourself if you're going to come in and pinch-hit. You hit into a net [in the clubhouse]. … The facilities [at spring training] are better than the facilities we have in Chicago.

"That's one part of it, and the other parts of it are fan amenities. Our mezzanine suites, we don't even call them luxury suites anymore because they're neither luxury, nor suites. We call them skyboxes. We all know the washroom situation is unacceptable. The concession, the quality of the food—we rank at the bottom.

"This isn't a revelation to anybody. These are things that we need to do and have needed to do for years, and the Tribune as a public company just couldn't, you just couldn't justify 'Let's go put $250 million into Wrigley Field.' "

Kenney still hopes to get those plans under way soon. Whether or not the Rickettses are on board for the "modernization" of Wrigley remains to be seen.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Link(Tribune)

[rok]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"This isn't a revelation to anybody. These are things that we need to do and have needed to do for years, and the Tribune as a public company just couldn't, you just couldn't justify 'Let's go put $250 million into Wrigley Field.' "<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Wow, finally we have a suit that is admitting that the Trib wasn't willing to allocate all possible resources behind the team. I think we can put that debate to rest forever.

[rok]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-tom-rick...0,2963991.story
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->According to a highly placed MLB source, Commissioner Bud Selig hasn't met with the Ricketts group, but Selig didn't view that as an obstacle to the sale.

"From everything we know, the Ricketts are great people and should be a fine group to run one of our cornerstone franchises," the source said.

The Ricketts' offer is unprecedented for baseball, topping the $700 million a group of investors paid in 2002 for the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and an 80 percent stake in a New England-based sports network. Yet the price is less than the $1 billion or more some predicted in 2007 that Tribune Co. would receive for the team and related assets.

Tribune Co. put the Cubs up for sale in April 2007, upon announcing that it would go private in a debt-laden $8.2 billion transaction led by Chicago real estate financier Sam Zell. The deal is needed to pay down debt.

The Cubs and Wrigley Field were not included in the bankruptcy filing, giving Tribune Co. some breathing room to complete the auction. But it's likely the bankruptcy judge will have to approve the sale of the Cubs because the proceeds will go to creditors.

The appeal of the Ricketts bid was that it featured more cash up front than the other bids, promising roughly 50 percent in equity and the rest of the $900 million financed with debt, a source said. Sources said the structure was favored by Tribune Co. and creditors since it meant more cash in the bank on closing day, money that no longer would be at risk.

Tribune Co.'s board signed off on the deal at a meeting Monday, and it was presented to the key creditors in the bankruptcy case on Thursday, sources said.

Now, Tribune Co. executives and the Ricketts have to transform a deal-in-concept into a signed transaction.

With negotiations at a preliminary stage and the recession presenting a potential hurdle to financing, none of the participants was ready Thursday night to uncork the champagne. Tom Ricketts, who started an investment bank in Chicago, was said to have spent the evening quietly at home with his wife and children.

"We look forward to working with the Tribune and Major League Baseball to close the transaction promptly," the family said. "If we succeed in buying the team, our work will just be beginning."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is all great news.

[Ace]

I'm pleased, but I'll temper my expectations. What are they supposed to say, "Yeah, we're happy to win the bidding, but we don't give a shit about the Cubs or the fans. We'll keep payroll relatively low, and try to win a few games here and there. Go Cubs!"

[Rappster]

<!--quoteo(post=13209:date=Jan 23 2009, 07:21 AM:name=Ace)-->QUOTE (Ace @ Jan 23 2009, 07:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I'm pleased, but I'll temper my expectations. What are they supposed to say, "Yeah, we're happy to win the bidding, but we don't give a shit about the Cubs or the fans. We'll keep payroll relatively low, and try to win a few games here and there. Go Cubs!"<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Fuck off. Enjoy something. One thing. Stop setting up your next post.