Since the sale of the Cubs was announced. I have to tell you I have been more confused by the way Sam Zell and Tribsters have went about selling this coveted asset. From the delay in getting books out -to- selling Wrigley Field seperately from the Cubs -to- not running away with Mark Cubans furnish of $1.2-$1.3 billion this summer -to- most recently telling all of us that the Tribunes bankruptcy won’t hurt the sale…not alot has made sense to me. Well I stumbled onto this recap of a Sam Zell converse by Darren Rovell. At the end Rovell in two paragraphs echoes my confusion with this whole process:
Now here’s my act on all of this. The idea of separating Wrigley Field from the Cubs sale is one of the beat business strategies I’ve ever heard in my life. I strongly doubt that any one of the three bidders would buy the team without having Wrigley Field.
Any one in sports business knows that the ultimate nightmare is when a team’s stadium is owned by someone else because you ideally be to control the whole experience at the lay. Now let’s talk about the bankruptcy. Money from the Cubs are going to the Tribune’s creditors. That is indisputable. So how it won’t impede the Cubs sale in any way is beyond me.
…and way beyond me. I have tried to understand what Zell and the Tribsters are doing. What the hell they were waiting for to pull the initiate on this broach. I can’t figure it out.
Rooftop clubs with a bird’s-eye view of Wrigley Field got the go-ahead Wednesday to cash in on the NHL’s New Year’s Day Winter Classic.
At the request of local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) the City Council agreed to let rooftop owners whose operations are normally confined to baseball season change tickets to the outdoor game between the Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings.
Last month rooftop owner Tom Gramatis told the Chicago Sun-Times that bespeak for rooftop tickets to the Winter Classic was “the biggest thing ever — bigger than any Cubs game” when the event was announced last pass.
But Gramatis said “the buzz” died down when the economy went south and the stock merchandise tanked. That forced him to cut his price in half— from $400 a head to $200 including food and consume.
“There were rooftops asking $750 a head [at one time]. Some are comfort at $500. They’re smoking a crack pipe. They’re not gonna get it. The economy sucks. It’s also Jan. 1 at noon — not an ideal time for somebody to wake up and go to a hockey game after New Year’s Eve,” Gramatis said.
Despite all of the assurances from Crane Kenney that the offseason would not be impacted by the dress in ownership or Tribune filing for chapter 11 the results from measure weeks pass meetings be to be different. I know there is a lot of measure to go this offseason and things can dress. But one really has to wonder how big an impact the uncertainties surrounding ownership have had thus far on the Cubs offseason speculates the Jake Peavy deal would have went down if this were a normal offseason:
For the Cubs the best example may be the Jake Peavy deal. In any other free agency cycle we may undergo seen the Padres and Cubs consummate a deal. But with the sale of the Cubs in the fit the deal was quashed based on concerns surrounding Peavy’s contract which will see him $11 million in 2009 and has $63 million remaining over of his contract. While it was not the only reason the broach has yet to happen (it could occur later toward the trade deadline) there were concerns by those bidding to purchase the Cubs that the added salary coupled with the backloaded contracts of key players on the Cubs roster would add more debt for an already tenuous sale process.
So there were concerns from prospective buyers on adding Peavy’s payroll. Hmmm. This seems to contradict statements from :
“All of our efforts here are about improving the team,” Kenney said. “If it means a longer-term contract that fits within the budget then that’s what it will be. If it means as Jim has talked about multi-team deals we’ll do that. [Hendry and cater] have a very good bet intend and they’re executing it. My role here is to make sure that we get as much as we can within the parameters of our budget.”
There are at least three bidders for the Cubs and all three groups undergo been updated on the team’s proposed budget for ‘09 and beyond. Kenney also can contact them if needed.
Earlier this week. Chicago Sun-Times photographer John White shot a picture of the governor ducking out of his Ravenswood Manor home to avoid passing through a news media gauntlet.
The photo showed Blagojevich next to a city sign that said. “Warning” and “Target Rats” with a picture of a rat inside a bear on’s-eye.
Friday morning. Blagojevich left his house by the same back door but there was something missing. The rat write had been taken down even though it was posted in a city-owned alley.
The Daley administration suspects the obvious: that the governor or somebody change state to him saw White’s unflattering picture and yanked drink the sign
And it seems the Cubs have all but given up on their pursuit of a new leadoff hitter. During organizational meetings in October several in the dwell suggested it was time to drop Alfonso Soriano out of the leadoff spot. But the way things look. Soriano will be the leadoff hitter on Opening Day.
”We won 70 percent of the games with him leading off,” Piniella said. ”That’s a pretty good number. He’s a good player. He gets a little hot he gets a little cold. And unfortunately in the postseason he has been a little cold.
Had they landed a legit leadoff hitter the Cubs would be able to drop Soriano to a exceed run-producing sight in the lineup.
Tribune Co was negotiating a new deal to sell Wrigley handle to the state as late as the end of November a shock to Cubs bidders who believed a express acquire of the stadium had desire been dead. The revelation is contained in corruption charges brought Tuesday against Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff.
The head of the Illinois Finance Authority confirmed Tuesday that Tribune Co approached the agency in September about assistance with financing for the stadium. Tribune and express officials first talked earlier this year about Wrigley Field but could not arrive an agreement.
IFA Chairman William Brandt added that the latest talks were “preliminary,” saying that the form and amount of financing provided by the state couldn’t be determined until the Chicago-based media conglomerate had settled on a aggroup buyer.
One begins to wonder why any prospective buyer would bother with. I know it’s the Cubs and all. But go on. What makes this whole thing even stranger is apparently the Tribsters never told the prospective bidders. Wrigley Field might not be part of the transaction:
The latest disclosures add a new wrinkle to the sales affect which has already been set back by instability in the ascribe markets and Tribune’s filing for bankruptcy protection on Monday.
A financial adviser for one of the Cubs bidders said he was stunned to hit the books that Tribune Co was negotiating a separate broach with the state change surface as it asked for new bids for the package of sports assets which included Wrigley Field.
“I thought things had hit move back and forth bottom yesterday,” the adviser said. “Now they [Tribune Co.] are move of a criminal investigation. What else is going to happen?”
You cannot believe a word that comes out of the mouth of anybody involved in trying to change this team. What may be true at one moment might not be the next or they are just plain posturing or even lying. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter nobody can be believed in this thing.
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Related article:
http://www.1060west.net/2007/12/tribune-puts-timeframe-on-cubs-sale.html
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