Cubs May File Bankruptcy as Means to Complete Sale

There hasn't been a team in Major League Baseball to file for bankruptcy in 39 years, and one of the last teams you would expect to break the drought would be the affluent Cubs. Say what you will about their on-field performance, but the one thing the Cubs do annually is make money. The problem, though, is that they are owned by the bankrupt Tribune Company.

Having the Cubs separately file bankruptcy would help to speed the impending sale of the team to a group headed by Tom Ricketts for what has been estimated as a $900 million bid. According to Bloomberg.com, here is how:

A brief Cubs bankruptcy would be a legal maneuver to clear the team from any future liability in the Tribune bankruptcy, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. Sam Zell, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Tribune, pledged the company's interest in the Cubs as collateral when he negotiated the deal to take the publisher private in 2007, according to one of those people.

"You take it in the front door, and it's just like you're getting radiation," said Michael J. Cramer, a former president of the Texas Rangers who teaches sports business at New York University. "It comes out the other door about a half minute later. It's clean."

However it works, something needs to get done. It was revealed the Tribune Company intended to sell the Cubs on Opening Day of 2006. Since then, the franchise has hung in limbo and a completed sale has been teased for what seems like an infinite amount of times. If it takes filing for bankruptcy for the team separate from the Tribune Company -- which, to someone who admittedly doesn't know much about finance, seems a bit odd considering the team itself is a cash cow -- so be it.