CHICAGO—Chicago investment bank head Tom Ricketts may have been tapped as the winning bidder for the Chicago Cubs baseball team, but he remains weeks if not months from sitting in the owner's box at storied Wrigley Field.
Tribune Co, which owns the Cubs, named Ricketts' $900 million offer for the team, Wrigley and a 25 percent stake in a regional sports cable TV network as the favored bid on Thursday after the bankrupt media firm won approval from its creditors.
Ricketts, who together with his family edged out Chicago native Marc Utay, a managing partner with New York-based private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners LLC and Chicago real estate executive Hersch Klaff, now must finalize a purchase agreement and arrange financing.
In addition, the deal needs approval from the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware, as well as Major League Baseball.
"They want an owner in place before opening day if at all possible," a source involved in the sales process said of baseball's leaders. "It will be very tight. Everything will have to go smoothly.
"The time line is variable," added the source, who asked not to be identified.
Ricketts, who lived across the street from Wrigley Field while attending college and met his wife in the ballpark's bleacher seats, is chief executive of Incapital LLC and the son of the founder of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. He was advised in the deal by Galatioto Sports Partners in New York.
Tribune, which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month due to its heavy debt load and the weak U.S. publishing sector. It put the Cubs on the block in April 2007, when Tribune agreed to an $8.2 billion buyout led by real estate magnate Sam Zell.
A World Series Win
Bidders are eager to take control of the team, which has not won a World Series title since 1908 but has wide appeal due to its history as "lovable losers" and its national exposure on cable TV.
"My family and I are Cubs fans," Tom Ricketts, the family's point person in the Cubs purchase, said in a statement late on Thursday. "We share the goal of Cubs fans everywhere to win a World Series."
Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney previously said it was possible a new owner could be in place by opening day in early April, but several people involved in the sales process, baseball officials and bankruptcy experts have questioned whether the process can move that fast.
Finalizing a sales agreement could take up to 90 days, the source said. The deal is still expected to include the Tribune maintaining a stake in the Cubs of at least 5 percent.
Ricketts' bid offered more cash up front, while Utay's offered a slightly higher overall value, sources previously said. Arranging financing also could take longer than normal given the tight credit markets.
Meanwhile, the necessary approval of 75 percent of baseball's 30 team owners could take up to two months, while court approval could take anywhere from two to four weeks.
If baseball officials are willing to begin background checks on Ricketts and his family members before a purchase agreement has been finalized, that could speed the process. Privately, baseball officials have said that nothing in Ricketts' initial application appeared "problematic."
Time also could be saved by seeking approval from baseball and the bankruptcy court at the same time, bankruptcy experts have said. While the Cubs are not part of the bankruptcy, the court must approve any deal.
