Reuters – Final bids for the Chicago Cubs will likely be due late September or early October, two sources said on Thursday, as owner Tribune Co seeks to sell the storied baseball team by the year end.
The next stage in the drawn-out sale of the team, its landmark stadium and a cable TV network stake will be management presentations starting next week to give bidders more information on the assets, the sources said.
Those will likely take about two weeks, after which final bids will be sought.
Tribune, which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, put the Cubs assets on the block in April 2007 when it announced it would be bought by a group led by real estate magnate Sam Zell. It is selling the Cubs to cut debt it took on as a result of the leveraged buyout.
Zell said last month that of 10 groups that bid, five made it through the first round for the package of assets — the Cubs, Wrigley Field and an interest in SportsNet Chicago.
