CSN's David Kaplan reports an agreement between the Tribune Company and the Ricketts family on the sale of the Chicago Cubs will be made in the next two weeks.
Approval from Major League Baseball would then likely take place sometime in August.
mattbulls wrote:Didn't this just turn official now??
Tribune Co. intends to sell the Chicago Cubs to the Ricketts family, sources familiar with the matter said Monday, ending the company's flirtation with another buyer after negotiations with the Rickettses had stalled two months ago.
After more than five months of negotiations, Tribune Co. has a written agreement to sell the baseball team and other assets to the Ricketts family for about $900 million. The two sides reached a deal over the weekend and forwarded an outline of their transaction -- what is known as a term sheet -- to Major League Baseball for its initial comments, according to sources who declined to be identified because an agreement has not been announced.
The two sides still have details to work out that will be included in a definitive agreement, sources said. The term sheet sent to MLB includes information on the deal's capital structure and how the Ricketts family will finance the transaction, sources said.
A Tribune spokesman said, "We continue an active dialogue with the Ricketts family with an eye toward reaching a definitive agreement. We don't intend to comment on the specifics of any potential transaction."
Completion of a transaction with the Rickettses is still several weeks away. The agreement, in addition to receiving MLB approval, has to be vetted by Tribune Co.'s creditors. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December.
hermes wrote:yay, so give a few weeks before it's final?
As much as we recently said the end was near on the sale of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, and a 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the tightening of the credit markets, and the technical aspects of possibly placing the Cubs into bankruptcy will have the Cubs under the Tribune Co.’s ownership through the end of the 2009 season.
The drawn out process for the sale of the storied franchise has had MLB cancel their scheduled August quarterly owners meetings. Without the sale approval process on the agenda, MLB saw the schedule thin, and therefore, sees no need to hold the meetings. While it is uncertain whether the process would be impacted, the possibility that Sam Zell will be pushed out as Chairman and CEO of Tribune could cloud matters.
The next meetings will be held November 17-19, shortly after the end of the World Series. The location of the meetings plays into the sale of the Cubs sale: They will be held in Chicago.
If the sale agreement passes the bankruptcy’s court muster, the next step would be approval through several MLB committees, including the Ownership Committee, and Executive Committee, before coming to a full vote by MLB’s 30 owners. While approval of the sale to the Ricketts family is seen as having an exceptionally good chance of approval, the vetting process through the various committees within MLB will take several weeks. The added time to move through those process coupled with the continued efforts to get the sale agreement completed sets November as a realistic point for the deal to be completed.
The family will not gain control of the team until after the baseball season ends, probably sometime in October, because there are still a few conditions of closing. Tribune Co. has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since December, and a major disposition of assets requires the court's blessing.
As part of the court's approval process, Tribune Co. said it will place the Cubs in Chapter 11 bankruptcy so that the franchise can "emerge free and clear" of the company's financial obligations.
The company said that the Cubs bankruptcy will not interrupt team operations, and player contracts and other agreements with ticket holders, sponsors and supplies are not expected to be affected.
Court approval is expected because Tribune Co. has run a robust sales process that has kept creditors informed throughout, sources said.
