"I'd actually like to be finished by Opening Day, have the deal done," Cubs chairman Crane Kenney told writers as the first day of the two-day owners' meetings here got under way. "We're anxious to get the season started and have a new owner in place. That would mean being able to move forward with some things that have been idling for the last two years."

To achieve that goal, Kenney will have to have the prospective owner for a franchise vetted by its ownership committee. Once approval is given by that body, it is passed on to the executive council and then to a 75-percent vote of the 30 owners. The next owners meetings are not until May.

Complicating matters is the fact that the Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy reorganization in December. Though the Cubs were not part of that filing, a bankruptcy judge will determine whether the sale of the Cubs is considered an asset to pay off creditors.

Kenney said he hopes that the court wouldn't intervene.

"[The court] could [order last-minute bids]," Kenney said. "But we've had such a long and open process with originally 10 bidders that I don't know that the court, especially in this economy, will have to do sort of a market check to see if there's a higher bidder than the one that results from the Tribune process. There have been enough bumps in this road."

Amen. Let's hope there are no more of those bumps. Time to move on and get new ownership in place, and out of the three remaining groups, my personal favorite is the Ricketts group. As always, we await further developments.