Jul 25, 2008 10:35 pm US/Central
Search Narrowed For Cubs' New Owner
But Will Ultimate Winner Really Come From List Of 5 Finalists?
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban (File)
AP
The search is on for the new Chicago Cubs owner. But while the Tribune Company named five finalists this week, CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the new owner may not even be on that list.
Ask Cub fans who they'd like to win the auction, and the result is nearly unanimous – Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and onetime contestant on "Dancing With the Stars."
While Cuban is clearly the peoples' choice, the people don't vote in this election.
"I don't believe that Major League Baseball will approve Cuban ever under any circumstances," said ESPN analyst Lester Munson. "Commissioner Selig knows what his owners want; they don't want Mark Cuban.
That despite his membership in what CBS 2 is told is the Billion Dollar Minimum Bid Club.
Cuban is joined by two Chicagoans in that club: bond trader Tom Ricketts, and real estate mogul Hersch Klaff, along with two East Coast combines.
And the winner, Munson and others believe, is none of the above.
"I'm still betting on John Canning," Munson said.
Canning is a Chicago investment banker whose group was eliminated this week after an apparent low-ball offer.
"He's gonna change his partnership, he's gonna add people, and he will be a contender probably sometime in the next two weeks," Munson predicted.
Ricketts, with his ties to Commissioner Selig and an all-star Chicago cast that includes McDonalds Chairman Andy McKenna, Chicago 2016 CEO Pat Ryan and restaurant magnate Rich Mellman, may be the co-favorite.
"If you compare the Ricketts family with Wayne Huizinga when he bought the Florida franchise, he did that in a matter of a couple of weeks and the Ricketts family has that capacity as well," Munson said.
CBS 2 spoke Friday night with one of the unsuccessful bidders, Don Levin, owner of the Chicago Wolves. He said he calculated what he thought the Cubs were worth, added a substantial premium and made a bid. Earlier this week, the Cubs' bankers called him and told him it wasn't even in the same zip-code, as the others.
The best guess at the final selling price for the team is nearly $1.5 billion.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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