Sullivan - Cuban moving up on the outside

[BigbadB]

What’s the UFL? Good question. Apparently, it stands for United Football League, a startup league with six planned franchises for the 2009 season. Both Mark Cuban and the New York Wilpons will own teams, and - presuming the league gets off the ground - Peter King from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED tells us today that the league’s first signing will be one Mike Vick

 

Ugh I don't think associating one's self with Mike Vick and fledgling football leagues is going to help you buy a MLB team.

 

Oh, that league sure will be going places if they are pinning all their hopes on a washed up QB who likes to pay to have dogs kill each other. :roll:

[UMFan83]

What’s the UFL? Good question. Apparently, it stands for United Football League, a startup league with six planned franchises for the 2009 season. Both Mark Cuban and the New York Wilpons will own teams, and - presuming the league gets off the ground - Peter King from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED tells us today that the league’s first signing will be one Mike Vick

 

Ugh I don't think associating one's self with Mike Vick and fledgling football leagues is going to help you buy a MLB team.

 

Oh, that league sure will be going places if they are pinning all their hopes on a washed up QB who likes to pay to have dogs kill each other. :roll:

 

That's the other thing...it can't look good to baseball owners to be investing (most likely heavily) in a league that is going up against the NFL most likely. The last league that attempted to play professional football folded after 1 season.

[The Voice of Reason]

This deal is not going to be done for a while. Hopefully the new owner will not value debt replacement over player replacement.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-cubs-debtaug13,0,7898928.story

 

Tribune Co.'s desire to minimize its taxes when it unloads the Chicago Cubs sets the stage for a possible showdown with Major League Baseball.

 

The Chicago-based media company is proposing a tax-avoidance strategy that likely would require a buyer to borrow heavily to pay for the team. That highly leveraged financial structure has produced concern among prospective buyers about their ability to operate the Cubs in a competitive manner, according to multiple sources.

 

Huge tax exposure

Prospective buyers have to figure out not only how much to bid but also how much of the price can be shielded from taxes. Tribune faces enormous tax exposure from an outright sale of the team because it bought the Cubs in 1981 for $20.5 million.

 

If the historic franchise fetches about $1 billion, as some believe, Tribune could owe up to $400 million in taxes, said Robert Willens, a leading New York tax analyst. That's a tax bill Sam Zell, Tribune's chairman and chief executive, would like to avoid in an effort to continue making debt payments from the $8.2 billion leveraged buyout of Tribune he led in December.

 

Instead, he wants to create what's known as a leveraged partnership between the buyer and Tribune to own the team. The partnership would borrow money to buy the team, and the proceeds from the loans would go to Tribune. The media company would retain a small stake in the partnership, less than 5 percent, giving it some exposure to the loans.

[nilodnayr]

thats really not a new development so it shouldnt be a problem. im sure its not terribly hard to work around.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

thats really not a new development so it shouldnt be a problem. im sure its not terribly hard to work around.

 

Where I see a problem is MLB's rules about debt and how long-term contracts count toward that. If a prospective owner is forced to go this route, MLB rules could hamper the Cubs ability to sign long term contracts with if a team has to have this much debt on the books.

[David]

So.....when the hell is the next round of bidding or whatever the next step in the process is? They're being awfully quiet for something that's supposed to get done by mid-late fall.

[shnsajax]

So.....when the hell is the next round of bidding or whatever the next step in the process is? They're being awfully quiet for something that's supposed to get done by mid-late fall.

 

It's just a slow process not to mention one that is not very public. Now that the 2nd round has begun they have a full copy of the books. I am guessing it will take a month to cover all of that.