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Bidder pill for fans: No Cuban for Cubs


Throw out Sam Zell's idea of selling the Cubs by the end of the year because he still hasn't reached his goal of narrowing the field from five bidders to two. And sources close to commissioner Bud Selig sounded an alarm this week during the annual general managers meetings: Forget about Mark Cuban buying the Cubs. Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks' owner, was the fan favorite, the guy who liked to drink beer, watch the game from the bleachers and spend money. He was the most appealing bidder to Zell's group, who knew Cuban could swing the quickest transaction for a team and ballpark that at one time figured to fetch $1 billion.

Global financial crisis or not, baseball's old guard plans to stand firm against letting Cuban into the club. ''There's no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen,'' a Major League Baseball source said this week. ''Zero chance.''

This would be a blow to Zell and Cubs fans who are eager to get finality on a team that's in limbo.

On Opening Day 2007, the Cubs officially went on the market. Zell's group was hoping for a quick transaction, certainly before Opening Day 2008. That same MLB source promised a deal won't be done by Opening Day 2009.

''We'll be standing here at next year's GM meetings,'' the source said, ''and this will still be unresolved.''

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