Monday, July 13, 2009
Cubs To File For Bankruptcy Despite $900 Million Sale?
The Tribune Company announced the sale of the Chicago Cubs major league baseball franchise to Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts for $900 million last week. A story, first broken by Bloomberg News (not the Chicago Tribune), suggests the team will file a prepackaged bankruptcy as part of the sale to clear some of its liabilities. Well isn't that special? The Cubs' parent company, the Tribune Company, is involved in the midst of its own bankruptcy reorganization under Chapter 11. You may recall that federal investigators are looking into allegations that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich attempted to arrange a quid pro quo with Tribune officials to facilitate a sale of the Cubs.
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2 comments:
CAN WE BUY 'EM! CAN WE BUY 'EM!!
THE CIB CAN EASILY STEAL ANOTHER BILLION OR SO FROM THE TAXPAYERS!!!
The funny thing about the sale price of $900 million was The Tribune Company's attempt last year to get the State of Illinois to take over Wrigley Field for $400million and dump $500 million in new improvements on it. The company acted like the state deal had to happen in order to make a sale of the team economically viable.
"Early this year Thompson proposed a state buyout in which he insisted no tax dollars or state bonds would be at stake. He said team lease payments and the sale of partial naming rights would cover the cost of buying the ballpark. However, after evading questions about hundreds of millions of dollars more that would be needed for renovation of the aging ballpark, Thompson suggested a plan to divert future sales tax revenues in the surrounding neighborhood to pay for renovations."
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