But i think all of the above would be a good fit

(mine included), but the real favorite will probably be the one offering the most money to Zell (assuming all are acceptable to the other team owners).

It would be a nice story if a guy with such strong personal connections to the cubs became an owner, but I like what I am reading about Marc Utay from a business standpoint. The Red Sox are a model franchise. This guy understands, seems to want to emulate it and has people in his group with the knowledge to do so.

individual at the front, a Steinbrenner/Reinsdorf type who is obviously a fan.

Based on that litmus test and reading your blue captured quotes, Ricketts and Utay both appear to fit the bill.

Klaff reads as more of a corporate raider and buyer of distressed assets. I’d be fearful he is waiting for the economy to turn so he could flip the franshise for fun and profit.

The clear leader to me, and my personal favorite, would be the Ricketts group, and I think they’ll wind up as the winning bidder.

Al, I can understand why the Ricketts group is your personal favorite, but what makes you believe that he is the “clear leader” ?

…develops an all Cubs channel, like the YES network?

All have good resumes in amassing wealth and enterprise, with a corresponding affinity to the Cubs. Look unless there is some super-natural event the Cubs are not going anywhere (as in moving). I think there is a sense that whomever emerges (it will be money because the bottom line is that the Bankruptcy Trustee/Judge will demand the highest return for the creditors) and the sale will probably be clean, meaning the Tribune Co and subsidiaries will get severed from an ownership basis, that does not mean that business relationships with WGN and Comcast will not be severed in the short term.

That then begs the question as to UTAY’s cartel who possess media experience. BTW the media landscape continues to change where I see that the Cubs WGN TV broadcasts being cut to possibly Sunday’s and driving more to MLB’s properties. I can foresee something intriguing as offering a Saturday game broadcast on pay per view on cable/satellite for Saturday games and possibly other packages ast the penetration of MLB.TV continues.

To me why the NYY’s have such a big $$ advantage is three-fold, they have 57,000 seats that they sell out at premium prices over 90, they have the largest media market well developed and have amassed a generation of capital. Cubs have 42,000 seats, (a beginning deficit of 1.2M no matter what) plus the 3rd media market by under 50.

The issue with the Cubs is expanding new revenues. To me answering that question is who makes for a better owner: Potential plans: Build new bleachers w/upper deck in LF/RF…how many seats added? Build skyboxes on roof? This would be an investment.

Is Wrigley for a total overhaul? Rebuild upper deck? Add seats, skyboxes. Use that to redo the Field boxes as genuine premium seats? Or build a replica of Wrigley with increased attendance and revenue stream? I would like to see that vision.

The short-term thinking about how this ownership group integrates with the current 1 year or 2 year club is not as important as the 5 year or 10 year plus vision.

Finally as a fan look to what Mark Cuban said about GM’s, are they really focused on winning a championship or protecting their job. What kind of scoring with these owner groups have on who they employ to do what? Understand for all the Tribune assets they really never were fixated on winning a championship, it was their corporate culture.

Ricketts and Utay are obviously big Cubs fans, but the Trib article doesn’t even say whether Klaff even likes baseball. That has me a wee bit concerned. Of course, I’d guess that he’s the longshot of this trio, but that’s purely speculative – and a few months ago I would’ve put my money on Mark Cuban buying the team, so my speculation isn’t worth much. Does anybody here know anything about him beyond what the article has to say?

Does TD Ameritrade’s purchase today of thinkorswim for $606M have any effect on possibly pulling the trigger on the Cubs for the Ricketts family?

Just wondering if Ricketts was focusing his attention on his primary business

that the Ricketts met in the bleachers in Wrigley. Now that we know who the three are it will be interesting to see who buys them.

What the hell are they waiting for?

Thats funny….

As far as these three finalist to buy the Cubs… what are the chances of a change in the name of Wrigley Field?.. It seems since the finalist are more individuals and private firms that that corporate stamp on wrigley fields naming rights is less likely… but then again I have no idea… anybody know where we are in that situation?

We have:

-A group of owners with strong connections to the Cubs / Wrigley and the city of Chicago.

-A group of owners with tenuous connections to the Cubs, and a fair amount of Red Sox and Yankee connections.

-An owner who isn’t from Chicago, let alone the U.S., and perhaps doesn’t even like baseball.

Hmm…. I guess I know who I’m rooting for!

about Utay’s partner, Leo Hindery. His history is one of exaggeration and self-promotion. Aside from his involvement in YES, he was head of cable TV’s worst company, TCI, and then of AT&T Broadband, which bought TCI. Any area cable subscribers remember the customer service disaster that characterized those companies? Hindery’s own family has debunked much of his autobiography. See this Huffington Post profile of a year ago when Hindery was a key member of the Edwards for president team: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-orton/edwards-campaign-living-i_b_80134.html

One quote from a book on the AT&T Broadband debacle says plenty:

“It was never clear to AT&T executives if Hindery stretched the truth on purpose, or if he just dwelled in a very grey world where black wasn’t always black, and white wasn’t always white.”

This is not the guy we want in charge of Cubs video distribution!