Baseball Musings: The Chicago Cub(an)s?

July 13, 2007

The Chicago Cub(an)s?

Mark Cuban joined the ranks of people looking to buy the Cubs.

"I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team's finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn't sure of the date.

Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell, who made the deal contingent on shedding non-core assets. That means the Cubs will go on the auction block at the end of the season - a decision Tribune chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has conceded was difficult but one that "really makes sense for our shareholders."

Several potential deep-pocketed bidders are expected to vie for the Cubs and possibly for Wrigley Field, including Cuban and Chicago native Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns CEO who once ran the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I'm sure Chicago fans would love to see Cuban own the team. He has a passion for winning on a par with Steinbrenner. I'd actually like to see Mark take over a more dysfunctional organization, like the Pirates, but you can't blame him for wanting one of the crown jewels of baseball.

Posted by David Pinto at 12:31 PM | Owners | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Personally I don't think this is good idea. Cuban is an annoying gasbag who's one goal in life is to call attention to himself. The focus of the game should be on the field, not on some obnoxious middle aged man trying to live out long lost dreams of athletic glory.

Posted by: Tom at July 13, 2007 12:38 PM

Tom, Cuban might be an annoying gasbag, but he's also a marketing genius and a hugely successful owner. But, I guess the Cubs don't need a guy like him, what with their winning record all these years, right?

I don't see this happening from a league standpoint, but I think it would be a good idea. Baseball could use a character like this to give it a little kick in the pants. The game is popular, but it isn't "sexy", and Cuban understands how to get that image across(not that Cuban himself is sexy, in anyway...)

Posted by: Andy at July 13, 2007 05:23 PM

I don't care if Cuban poops himself regularly. He wants to win. Period.

I hope he gets the Cubs. I can't think of anyone better to buy them.

Posted by: The Zoner at July 13, 2007 06:13 PM

Cuban would be good for baseball. The majority of ownership today is stuffy and stoically corporate. The very nature of owning a team is to compete directly with the other member owners. Bud Selig will have you believe otherwise. I'm sure Bud at some point is going to talk with David Stern about Cuban. But the bottom line is that it would be refreshing if the next potential owner of a given team does not turn out to be another Selig 'appointee'...(can you say Marlins..Red Sox..Expos..Nationals....not to mention he's championing his own candidate for Cub ownership.) I'm an old fashioned thinker in that I believe if you cant afford to compete as an owner, sell the team, move the team or fold the team. Diversity in the ownership circles is paramount to the health of any sport. Baseball history is the perfect example of this. Maverick (no pun intended) owners are good for the game. If the reserve clause and collusion and segregated ballfields is any indication of what happens when all owners are on the same page of music,....then let Cuban buy the Cubs.

Posted by: Bklyn Trolley Blogger at July 13, 2007 06:26 PM

Not to mention all the big fluffy towels the players would get.

Posted by: rbj at July 13, 2007 07:56 PM

Cuban would be good for baseball if only for calling the other owners on their idiocy.

Posted by: Josh at July 14, 2007 12:15 PM