By Paul Schmidt
The story that wouldn’t die seems to finally have died.
Well…sort of.
The Chicago Cubs have officially been sold to the Ricketts family, and primarily Tom Ricketts, self-professed die-hard Cubs fan who lived just a short, short walk from the stadium. Ricketts and his family threw down the tidy sum of 800 million dollars — foldin’ money, really — to earn a 95 percent stake in the team.
This includes the team, Wrigley Field and a 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet, which owns the right to broadcast several Cubs’ games every season, as well as White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks games.
Here’s where things get a little hinky, though. The Ricketts won’t be taking over until after the baseball season (October to November), because there still are several hurdles to making the deal. With the Tribune Company still dealing with Chapter 11, the court must approve any major sale of assets, though that does seem like a formality at this point.
The Cubs must also come out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as the Tribune seems to believe that will leave the team’s “title” free and clear of any debt that the Tribune may have with it.
Finally, there is the small issue of MLB approving the sale, as well, and the owners approving the new Cubs ownership. This is, truly, the only thing that I can think of that could hold the sale up, because even though there doesn’t seem to be any reason for the owners not to approve the Ricketts family, it wouldn’t be the first time that they completely and illogically say that someone isn’t fit to own a baseball team.
Still, it isn’t like this happens every day in sports, let alone in Cubs history. It certainly does appear that we are just a few scant weeks away from having just the seventh owner in the 138 year history of Chicago Cubs professional baseball.