Tribune Plans to Sell Chicago Cubs

Billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell smiles during an interview in Chicago in this March 20, 2007 file photo. Tribune Co. has accepted a buyout offer from real estate investor Sam Zell in a deal valued at about $8.2 billion, the media company said Monday, April 2, 2007. Tribune said Zell plans to invest $315 million in the deal and the company will sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team at the end of this season. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, file) (M. Spencer Green - AP)

While the Cubs are renowned for their losing ways, they also have become more of a box-office success under Tribune's ownership and have spent dramatically more money in recent years. Nevertheless, its stewardship will go down as checkered if it fails to win so much as a single pennant.

"It's a marquee franchise," said sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College who pegs the club's value at $500 million to $650 million depending on any changes to TV contracts and how Wrigley Field factors into the deal. But, he added, "My guess is this is probably good news for Cubs fans. I don't think Tribune Co. has done a lot positive for the club."

Tim Speiss, who advises sports team owners for New York accounting firm Eisner LLP, pegged the Cubs' value based on 2005 revenues at roughly $465 million, excluding any debt, but said that's not only the factor in bidding for a sport franchise. "There's always a lot of emotion, for a lot of reasons," he said.

Selig contended that Tribune's ownership shouldn't be evaluated solely on on-the-field results.

"There are a lot of different ways to evaluate ownership," he said. "I understand completely the won-loss parameters people use to judge people in this business. The Tribune Company has, as far as I'm concerned, been outstanding owners."

The ownership issue overshadowed the start of the season in Cincinnati for the Cubs, who are given a chance to contend in a weak NL Central Division but are not the favorites. The Reds beat Chicago 5-1 in the opener.

Lou Piniella, the Cubs' new manager, said he met with his players before the game and told them not to let the news affect them.

"We're not to going to change," he said. "The club's going to be run the same way it's always been run. I told the players that with the business end, they don't have any control over that. The only thing they can control is what they do on the field."

Asked whether the impending sale could be a distraction, catcher Michael Barrett said: "It's a change. At the same time, we're more focused than we've ever been. We feel good about what Lou has accomplished in spring training, getting everyone to have a daily focus."

Cubs president John McDonough said there hasn't been any indication Tribune will cut back on resources for the team in its lame-duck ownership season, although he declined to say whether the announcement might affect negotiations with pitcher Carlos Zambrano on a multiyear contract.

"I feel confident that if during the (season's) midpoint we need to improve the ballclub, those resources will be there," he said.

General Manager Jim Hendry called the Cubs one of the premier franchises in sports.

"Everywhere we go, half of the fans are Cubs fans," Hendry told reporters in Cincinnati. "We play in the greatest ballpark in the world. It's the greatest city to play in. Who wouldn't want to be part of the Cubs?"

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AP Sports Writers Andrew Seligman in Chicago and Joe Kay in Cincinnati contributed to this report.