CHICAGO (CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS) -- As Tribune Co. moved toward the second round of bids for the Chicago Cubs Wednesday, it appeared the new owner — whoever it is — will pay more than any team buyer in the history of professional U.S. sports.
One bidder, Andrew Murstein, vice-chairman of New York-based Sports Properties Acquisition Corp., won’t say exactly what he offered, but says his bid for the team and Wrigley Field tops the $800 million paid for the NFL’s Washington Redskins in 1999. That figure was the most ever paid for a team, according to Sports Business Journal, an industry publication.
Mr. Murstein says he may not even be a top contender in a field that includes Madison Dearborn Partners CEO John A. Canning Jr., billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Thomas Ricketts, whose family founded Ameritrade.
“It’s such a marquee franchise,” says Mr. Murstein, who raised $215 million in an IPO this year for a company formed expressly to acquire a sports team. “This will sell for the highest price in the history of any sports.”
On Wednesday Tribune picked as many as five bidders to participate in a second round of the Cubs auction, the Chicago Tribune reported. Mr. Canning wasn’t among them, the paper said, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the process. The report didn’t name anyone who was picked.
The highest price ever for a Major League Baseball team was the $700 million hedge fund maven John Henry paid for the Boston Red Sox in 2002.
Mr. Murstein is the first Cubs bidder to go public with details on what he’s willing to pay. He says he’ll borrow money to make good on his bid and that his shareholders stand ready with more capital as needed.
But Mr. Murstein, whose board includes Hank Aaron, says he believes Messrs. Canning and Ricketts have the inside track and everyone else’s bid is a “distant third.”
Tribune CEO Sam Zell wants to get the most he can for the ballpark and the team, which currently has the best record in the National League. Forbes pegs the team’s value at about $642 million. At least one credit analyst estimates Mr. Zell will get as much as $1 billion for the team, Wrigley Field and related assets, including a 25% stake in cable channel Comcast SportsNet.
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