Cubs Sale Won't Happen Until After Opening Day
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 18, 2009 9:10PM
Despite the fact the Tribune Company has picked a buyer for the Chicago Cubs, it doesn't look like they'll be rid of the team by Opening Day as had been originally hoped. Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said talks to hammer out an official deal continue and that the negotiations will likely continue even as the Cubs' April 6th Opening Day comes and goes.
"There's a negotiation that's occurring, and like every negotiation, there's an issue or two that probably wasn't spotted early that needed to be resolved," he said. "None of them are in any way fatal to the transaction. It's standard stuff, I would say. And the credit markets are challenging, and this is a transaction that will have some amount of debt on it."
The next owners meeting at which Major League owners would approve the sale doesn't take place until May, though a phone vote could also be used. According to Kenney, because of the Trib's bankruptcy issues, the Trib would, "need to have a court involved to approve the terms of the transaction supporting the creditors, who, obviously have a great interest in seeing how this transaction unfolds."