Even before he was civilly charged on Monday by the SEC with insider trading, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's chances to buy the Cubs had fallen precipitously. The recent round of bids from interested Cubs buyers has remained secret, but Cuban did not make a proposal that would qualify him as a serious buyer, SI.com has learned. So he may have been out even before the SEC spoke out.
With the economy in meltdown, Cubs owner Sam Zell allowed prospective owners to bid for a fraction of the team in the latest round of bidding, and while the bids (some were for the whole team and some for part of it) remain sealed, at least four other groups are still seen as serious, according to people familiar with the sales talks: a Michael Tokarz-led group; investors headed by Leo Hindery Jr. and Mark Utay; Chicago real estate magnate Hersch Klaff; and the Ricketts family, which started TD Ameritrade.
Before the economy crashed, bids were accepted that reached or exceeded $1 billion for the team, Wrigley Field and broadcast properties. However, the country's economic calamity surely limited the most recent proposals to the point where one baseball owner said, "I think (Zell) may hold onto the team for three to five years, and wait for things to improve.''
Even if Cuban's recent bid had been competitive, his latest controversy would have hurt his chances. The SEC charge is related to what they say was an improper sale of Mamma.com that saved Cuban about $750,000 back in 2004, a small savings for a man estimated to be worth in excess of $2 billion. A few weeks ago, the Chicago Sun-Times quoted an unnamed baseball official who said that MLB would never approve a sale to Cuban, who's been a controversial NBA owner due to his frequent criticism of NBA referees.
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