All Entries Tagged With: "Thomas Ricketts"
Cubs sale done, Hendry free to deal?
Tribune is reporting the deal is done. Sources tell us Tom Ricketts will be able to approve any deal that Jim Hendry would like to make before the deadline.
Tribune Co. has reached a deal to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field to the Ricketts family, a source familiar with matter said this morning.
The two sides finalized a sale agreement over the weekend and have forwarded the contract to Major League Baseball, the source said.
The deal must be approved by other baseball owners. With Tribune Co. operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the sale also will need court approval.
The source said the sales price is “close” to the $900 million bid the Ricketts offered earlier this year that won an auction for the baseball team, stadium and a 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, a regional cable television sports network.
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Ricketts and Zell closing gap
Ameet Sachdev reports the talks between Sam Zell and Thomas Rikcetts are back on track. A Tribune source hints that the re-emergence of Marc Utay’s group could have brought the urgency back to the talks.
Sources familiar with the matter said the parties have made “good progress” in what have become protracted negotiations to reach a definitive agreement on the sale of the Cubs, Wrigley Field and Tribune Co.’s 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Talks hit a snag more than a months ago when the two sides could not agree on some issues, including how to value the broadcast rights to the Cubs.
“We’re closing the gap,” said one source, who asked not to be identified because the sales process is ongoing. “The attitudes are much more positive.”
A second source said, “I don’t want to speculate why, but momentum has picked up.”
In recent weeks, new proposals on broadcast rights have narrowed their differences, the first source said. The source declined to quantify the current difference but said it was much less than $50 million.“At some point, you have to pick a horse and ride it,” the source said about Tribune Co.
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Cubs bidding re-opened
Both sides of the Cubs sale have been working their angles through the media. The Ricketts family paints a picture of everything is moving ahead. Sam Zell however, says things are at a stalemate and its time to let Marc Utay’s group re-enter the picture.
The Ricketts group does not want to get locked into the sweetheart deals the Tribune made with their own broadcasting outlets in Comcast and WGN, they feel the ability to start their own Cubs channel or negotiate their own deals are too important to creating revenue outlets. This recent move by Zell is his way of putting pressure on the Ricketts and forcing their hands through the media.
According to industry sources, Zell has opened up the bidding to show his dissatisfaction with the Ricketts’ family and the trouble they’re having finalizing and securing a deal with the Tribune for somewhere between $850 and $900 million for the purchase of the Cubs.
The New York group is led by Marc Utay, and Leo Hindery. Utay is a former north suburban Chicago resident. The Ricketts family was told by the Tribune that after they were chosen as the final bidder, they would have ample time to come up with the cash and secure loans in the area of $450 million to get the deal done. The Ricketts family was chosen as the final group to bid in January of 2009. For this deal to get done, the main focus of securing the loans centers on the team’s current broadcast contracts with WGN television and radio and Comcast SportsNet.
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Cubs sale on life support?
Dave Kaplan’s sources tell him the sale of the Cubs to Thomas Ricketts is on shaky ground. We have heard mixed reports lately, some saying Sam Zell was trying to hold out for more money than the Ricketts family thought this deal was worth (possibly being apart by 100 million). Others saying it’s closer than reported. Kaplan says Jim Hendry will have to make lateral salary moves, to make any additions this season.
When Tom Ricketts was announced as the winning bidder for the Cubs most people assumed that all that needed to be done was to cross a few t’s and dot a few i’s. Quite to the contrary though, sources that I have spoken with tell me that this deal is on life support and there is a very real possibility that this deal will fall through.
Sticking points include the length and terms of the local radio and TV broadcast deals, the financing structure of the sale, and the overall state of the economy which has adversely affected financing a deal of this magnitude.
The problems surrounding the sale process will make it next to impossible for the current Cubs management to make a big move to improve the club for the rest of the 2009 season. It is expected that GM Jim Hendry will try to upgrade his bullpen over the next 6 weeks with adding a left handed setup man a priority. However, adding a player the caliber and salary of Jake Peavy is not going to happen unless the sale is approved prior to July 31st.
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Cubs sale held up by broadcast issues
The saga continues. Sam Zell and Thomas Ricketts have both expressed their frustration in dealing with each other to MLB. The Ricketts family is looking for a price reduction of about 40-50 million, after re-examining the broadcasting revenues.
Controlling both a baseball team and the media outlets that broadcast its games helped the Cubs develop a national following despite a century without a World Series championship. The exposure generated millions of ticket sales at Wrigley Field and increased audiences for its TV and radio stations. Most of all, it significantly increased the value of a team Tribune Co. bought for $20.5 million in 1981.
But now, unwinding those interlocking relationships is bogging down the media company’s deal to sell the Cubs to Wilmette investment banker Tom Ricketts and his family. A dispute over the value of the team’s broadcast contracts has thrown the deal’s $900 million price tag into question and complicated a negotiation that many expected would be wrapped up by now.
The Ricketts family is planning to deliver a “comprehensive package” to Tribune Co. later this week outlining its latest proposal and a long-awaited financing package, a source close to the talks said.
But the family is also claiming that upon closer inspection, the broadcast contracts aren’t worth as much as they originally thought. And that has led the Ricketts to seek concessions in the contract language or a $40 million to $50 million reduction in the sale price.
For the Ricketts, the future value of the broadcast contracts is crucial. In the four months since the family emerged as the winning bidder for the Cubs, the credit markets have continued to erode, driving up financing costs. Meanwhile, the searing recession has called into question the earning power of all professional sports franchises.
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Ricketts closing in
What was all that talk from Sam Zell about other Cubs buyers? Crain’s says deal is closer than reported.
Thomas Ricketts, who is leading his family’s bid to buy the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co., is closer to sealing the deal than recent reports suggest.
As recently as two weeks ago, disagreement over the terms of the team’s broadcast contract with Tribune’s WGN network left the two sides as much as $50 million apart on the nearly $900-million deal.
Sources now tell Crain’s that both sides have made concessions on some of the key sticking points, bringing them near the conclusion of a sale process that’s dragged on for Tribune more than two years. The family, led by Mr. Ricketts, has been in exclusive talks with TribCo on the Cubs sale since January.
Tribune CEO Sam Zell, in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday, appeared to raise new questions about the Ricketts’ ability to buy the team. He blamed the difficult credit environment for delaying the Cubs sale, adding that “if the Ricketts deal doesn’t get done, I am sure there’ll be another one.”
But the financing appears to be in place.
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Zell doubting sale?
Sam Zell sends some mixed signals in his latest assesment of the Cubs pending sale. We were told back in March that Zell was still negotiating with the Ricketts family, even after the bid was publicly accepted. Is Zell trying to get Thomas Ricketts to cave on any remaining issues by the way of public pressure?
“We’ve made it very public that the Cubs don’t fit into the long-term picture of the Tribune,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “So if the Ricketts deal doesn’t get done, I’m sure there will be other ones.”
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Selig upset with Cubs sale?
Phil Rogers thinks Bud Selig must be ready to loose it over the pro-longed sale of the Cubs. We were told that Sam Zell was trying to negotiate for more money after the reported agreement. Maybe it was a pre-mature announcement? wonders Rogers.
As the transfer between Sam Zell – the Tribune Company chairman and CEO who said he didn’t want to own the team but has been in charge for almost 2 1/2 seasons now — andTom Ricketts plods along, the sides seemingly at odds over the structure of an agreement in principle reached four months ago, Selig must be getting close to doing a Zambrano.
According to sources, he speaks to both the Zell and Ricketts camps frequently, hearing their sides of the gridlock that has kept the deal from being passed along to Major League Baseball’s 29 owners for approval. It’s easy to imagine steam coming out of Selig’s ears when he gets off the phone, angry that one of his premier franchises remains in such an awkward state of limbo.
A highly placed MLB source said Wednesday that the slow pace has been due to the ongoing negotiations between Ricketts and Zell, as well as between Ricketts and the banks, not any red tape on MLB’s end.
“It’s not even on our desk,” the MLB source said. “We can’t do anything until we have it. We wish we had it already.”
You wonder if the announcement of the sale to Ricketts may have been premature. The sides haven’t been able to finalize the deal. While there have been no indications of the deal potentially falling apart, the MLB source indicated that, at times, both sides have spoken about difficulties dealing with the other side.
“We still think this deal is going to work,” the source said. “That’s what we keep being told. We just don’t know when. We really do not know what the timing is going to be.”
Owners won’t gather again until August but could schedule a conference call before then if the Cubs’ sale reaches a vote. But this is clearly a very complicated deal, not a simple transfer of ownership. At this point, it won’t be a surprise if it is still on the table for the August meeting.
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Celebs in on Cubs sale?
Chicago celebs Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, and John Cusack have been approached by Thomas Ricketts to be potential partners, as he nears closing on his purchase of the Cubs.
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Ricketts to take over Cubs in July?
The very long process of Tom Ricketts purchasing the Cubs may be drawing to a close. Sportsbusinessjornal.com claims three major banks are getting set to close out this deal by early July.
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Cubs sale in May, new TV deals?
Bruce Levine reports current Cubs owner Sam Zell and potential Cubs owner Tom Ricketts are working on a deal to renegotiate their TV deals. Levine thinks the Cubs are using a potential Cubs network as leverage to gain a better deal with WGN and Comcast Sports Net. Levine also says May is the most probable time frame for the Cubs sale to be finalized.
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Alderson as Cubs President? Peavy coming with?
Paul Sullivan reports there are rumors circulating that Padres CEO Sandy Alderson could be tabbed by Thomas Ricketts, to be the new top man in the Cubs organization.
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