Tribune Company Could Keep Chicago Cubs in 2008

Despite the Tribune Co. maintaining that the Chicago Cubs will be sold in fourth quarter of this year, the team "looks likely to stay in Tribune hands well into next year -- possibly through opening day," according to Crain's Chicago Business.

A source said that the offering document will not "be ready for weeks." The slowdown in the process "has mystified bidders, who months ago submitted applications required" by MLB, but who "since have heard little."

Photo of Alfonso Soriano - UPI Photo/Brian Kersey /Landov

Tribune is going private in an $8.2-billion buyout led by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell. The deal hinges on the sale of the Cubs and Tribune's 25 percent stake in cable channel Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

The Cubs were eliminated from baseball's playoffs last weekend, losing in three straight games to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cubs haven't been to the World Series since 1945 and haven't won it since 1908.

The team, the cable stake, and Wrigley Field and affiliated real estate could be sold separately.

Splitting the assets could create new competition for bidding groups thought to have the advantage, including one led by Chicago private-equity executive John Canning Jr. With almost $13 billion in debt after going private, Tribune could be under pressure to sell, but the first payment on its buyout debt doesn't come due until December 2008, the publication said.