Tribune to sell Chicago Cubs

By Sarah Rabil
New York Post
Tribune Co., the newspaper owner being taken private by billionaire Sam Zell, plans to sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field in the next six months to cut debt.

The sale may fetch more than $1 billion, according to John Puchalla, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service. Providing a timeframe on the Cubs' sale, announced in April, may ease investors' concerns that Tribune will have too much debt after the $8.2 billion buyout closes. There's "substantial interest" in owning the Cubs and their stadium, said Puchalla.

Tribune rose 33 cents to close at $31.87.

Tribune also plans to sell real estate assets related to the Cubs and its 25 percent stake in Comcast's regional sports television network, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, in the first half of 2008.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, said in July he had sent Major League Baseball an application to buy the Cubs.

In November 2006, Crain's Chicago Business reported that industrialist Thomas Begel and William Marovitz were interested in the Cubs. Other potential buyers included private-equity investor Bruce Rauner, William Wrigley Jr. and the Chicago Wolves hockey team owner Don Levin.