May 14--The ivy is still on the wall. The writing no longer is.
Tribune Co.'s plans to sell the Chicago Cubs, announced more than 13 months ago and supposedly on track to be completed this year, now may be delayed as the Chicago Tribune's parent continues to negotiate with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority in pursuit of an advantageous way to sell and renovate Wrigley Field, the team's home for more than 90 years.
After Tribune Co. rejected the authority's latest proposal as creative but unworkable, sources said that the media conglomerate is privately indicating it might hold off selling the ballclub if the inevitable need for costly repairs at the antiquated ballpark significantly discounts the bids it fields for the team.
Heavily leveraged since going private late last year in an $8.2 billion deal engineered by real estate magnate Sam Zell, Tribune Co. bought itself a little breathing room on a Cubs sale, or at least a plausible negotiating stance, with this week's announced $650 million transaction for control of Newsday, according to analysts. The deal for its Long Island, N.Y., newspaper gives it a financial cushion for this year, but not forever.
Tribune Co., which acquired the Cubs and Wrigley Field in 1981, remains in talks with the state agency for it to possibly acquire and pay for an estimated $400 million in renovations to the aging baseball shrine, Major League Baseball's second-oldest ballpark, as well as neighborhood improvements and additional parking.
It is estimated that structural repairs can be delayed no more than 10 to 15 years, and there is considerable financial incentive to modernize the ballpark's high-priced suites as soon as possible to put it on a par with similar moneymakers in other professional sports facilities.
Tribune Co. shot down the state agency's latest proposal, which was structured to counter public criticism by funding the overhaul without state or city tax money. But neither side will rule out an agency deal of some sort for the ballpark, which would enable the team to be sold separately and maximize the potential return for Tribune Co., despite a Chicago Sun-Times report Tuesday that the company now planned to peddle the team and ballpark privately.
Former Illinois Gov. James Thompson, who heads the state agency, said Tuesday on Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM 720 that the deal "still has life as far as I'm concerned" and that he planned "to act properly by going back to Sam Zell and negotiating further."
Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said Tribune Co. would leave its options open by continuing to work "with the city and state and, at the same time, begin the private process to explore interest in the team, stadium and our ownership interest in Comcast SportsNet."
Zell, Tribune Co.'s chairman and chief executive, said in a call with lenders last month that he expected to sell the baseball team "sometime this year," regardless of what happened in negotiations with the state over Wrigley.
Indeed, the team's so-called book of confidential financial data has been sent to Major League Baseball for review, with and without ownership of the ballpark included. But the book has not been forwarded yet to MLB-approved bidders, numbering at least a half-dozen groups.
Sources involved in the bidding process said word is filtering back to those potential buyers that Tribune Co. is saying it will hold onto the team rather than sell at distressed prices if would-be buyers drop their prices too steeply in anticipation of having to pay for Wrigley Field renovations themselves.
Baskin Alaskan 
