The Biz of Baseball: Brown: Financial Book on the Cubs Expected This Week

And from Maury..."Or, as some like to call it, the prelude to John Canning owning the Cubs, and Cuban getting snubbed”

The sale of the Chicago Cubs will move beyond pure discussion when Sam Zell and the Tribune Co. deliver the financial “book” to the six prospective bidding groups sometime this week.

The “book” is a financial assessment of all the holdings being sold by Tribune in association with the storied franchise, including the team, Wrigley Field, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, and Wrigley Field Premium Tickets. A separate “book” is also being distributed with Wrigley Field removed as part of the sale. Zell has been in discussions with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority about selling it off separately, a move seen as a negative for prospective owners.

As for the six groups bidding they include Madison Dearborn Partners CEO John Canning, Jr., the 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.

As we have reported at the outset, from MLB’s perspective, the leading candidate is John Canning, Jr. due to his close ties to MLB and deep financial resources. He is a minority owner in the Milwaukee Brewers and has had close ties to Commissioner Selig. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, MLB could pass on any of the prospective buyers, even they are acceptable to Zell and Tribune, or offer more money than an owner they see as working well within MLB’s close-knit ownership framework.