The Chicago Cubs auction, which appeared to be headed for an easy score, may now be facing a close play at the plate with a trip to bankruptcy court in the cards if the winning bidder is tagged out.
Adding more twists and drama to a sales process that has already had many,
Bloomberg reported on Monday that the Cubs are preparing for a 363 bankruptcy filing.
If Tribune Co. does take the Cubs into bankruptcy with it, the media conglomerate is hoping it would be a short and speedy process. A 363 bankruptcy filing "allows a company to sell assets free and clear of a lender's lien and without the creditors' consent under certain circumstances," the report.
However, things don't always go as planned. The National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes filed for Chapter 11 in May in what it hoped would be a short stay, but it ran into a minefield of legal battles over who owns the team and whether or not it would be allowed to move.
The last Major League Baseball team to file for bankruptcy was the Seattle Pilots in 1970, who was acquired by current league commissioner Bud Selig and eventually became known as the Milwaukee Brewers.
If a Cubs' bankruptcy auction ends with a sale to a buyer that fellow MLB owners disapprove of, it would prolong an auction that has dragged on since September 2007.
Meanwhile
potential bidders such as private executive Marc Utay and the Ricketts family are each waiting on deck for a chance to win the auction. But in the meantime, the Cubs and the team's fans will just wait and see what happens as the process heads into MLB's All-Star break. -
Demitri Diakantonis
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