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MLB Commissioner Bud Selig must have choked on his frozen custard when he found out that Mark Cuban has officially thrown his hat into the ring to buy the Cubs. On Thursday Cuban made public that he had submitted his application to buy the storied ball club.
Bud, of course, has other ideas about who shall buy the Cubs. He has been lobbying for longtime friend John Canning Jr. to purchase the team from the Tribune Co. While the Madison Dearborn Partners CEO has deep pockets and ties to MLB, is he the best option?
While we might place Canning ahead of others who've expressed interest in the team — like Donald Trump or Billy Marovitz — is he really the best option?
We guess that depends on how one defines best. For Selig, it's the security that comes from knowing the guy so well and promoting his "Chicago roots." For some, it might be having a public face long associated with the Cubs, like Ernie Banks.
But Chicagoist thinks that the best option is the one which will do the most to try and change the Cubs' losing ways. And nobody would be able to pull that off as well as Mark Cuban. When we were a young sports fan, there was no franchise more inept than the Dallas Mavericks. Now, Cuban's got them contending for the title every year. He's proven to be a fan first, and businessman second, when running the Mavs.
He has proven that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win, from paying handsomely for players who can help improve his team, to building the most extensive training and coaching program in the NBA, to sticking up for his players and fans even when it means drawing large fines from the league. Amazing what some cash (he's worth an estimated $2.3 billion) and a passionate owner can do!
But that passion sometimes gets Cuban in trouble — hence the $1.5 million in fines he's racked up for blasting NBA refs. Such outspokenness surely frightens Selig. But preventing the one guy who would actually find the way to turn the Cubbies into winners from buying the team should frighten Cubs fans.
Photo via sfgate.com.
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YAY! i know he's a crazy mofo, but so am i and we need a FAN! fck this "major league" (the movie) crap. selig doesn't get to decide/have a say in who buys the team, does he?
i'm originally from WI (kill me), and i now hate ex-brewer guy selig. what a fuckshaw.
I was wondering the same...
I would love to see CUBan buy the Cubs, but does any sale have to be approved by Selig first? Or would Zell get the final say, since he is selling the team, and would most likely sell to the highest bidder?
Guest would love to see Cuban give it a run. Sure, he'd be sharing time w/the Mavs, but there's no doubt that he would be the guy to bring the most passion to the table. And if it failed -- so what? Par for the course.
It'll never happen and not because Cuban is a loudmouth. The other owners do not want a guy who can outspend George Steinbrenner, plain and simple. Look at all the flak the Cubs caught in the off-season for their spending spree. I don't think Cuban is what the Cubs need though. The Cubs need a majority owner with deep pockets (but not as deep as Cuban) who is from Chicago, grew up a Cubs fan, knows what Cub fans have gone through. I like The Rickets, I like Colangelo, I like Levy, I like the guy who owns the Wolves. Those are all great options.
Jerry Reinsdorf, big pals with Bud Selig, will make sure that it never happens.
first of all Selig and the other owners do have the final say in who gets to buy this team. It stems from the anti-trust exemption that baseball may or may not be covered by (they act like they are covered though it has never been challenged and the legal precedents are murky at best).
As for Cuban, guest #4 is right and wrong. The owners want somebody who will go along with them in any collective bargaining with the players or any dealings with Congress. They don't want a loose cannon messing things up.
Additionally they don't want somebody who will drive salaries up through the roof by foolish spending.
But they do want someone who will spend a ton of money on the purchase of the team. As most owners are in baseball to flip the team within about 5 years any mega sale helps their own franchise values go up. This is where they make the real money, not from beer or ticket sales but from the increase in team value. So if Cuban offers up the most it may yet happen.
But Benjay is missing a real key component in all of this as usual. Selig is very skilled at the deal making aspect of his job. The last time a premier franchise was sold (the Red Sox) he took components from competing bids to make the winning bid. That is what is likely to happen here assuming that financials work out. The only other wrinkle is that the Trib is a publicly traded company and is obligated to take the highest bid. If that bid isn't acceptable to MLB then watch the deal making really begin.