As has been widely reported, the Tribune Company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Delware. Among the Tribune's major assets are its ownership of the Chicago Shlubs
Cubs, a ne'er-do-well "ball" club, but still an extermely valuable
Major League Baseball franchise. (Full disclosure: I'm a Sox fan.
And please don't ask what color….)
[Note that this is not the first baseball bankruptcy. We've had
minor league club bankruptcies before, such as that of the Allentown
Ambassadors.]
Tribune has already been trying to sell the Cubs. In fact, bids have already been submitted.
Now, because the Cubs are a MLB franchise, MLB has a veto over any
sale. This likely means that Mark Cuban, the maverick owner of the
Dallas Mavericks, who has coveted the Cubs for years, is unlikely to be
able to complete a purchase, even if his is the high bid; he's not
someone the MLB owners want in their club (in Ivyspeak, he's "not
clubable"). And that was before the SEC brought a civil suit against
him.
But bankruptcy might change this picture and let Cuban buy the Cubs. (Good, we Southsiders say, they deserve each other!).
Continue below the break for two ways Cuban might land the Cubs.