Chicago Blog Says Cuban is Out of the Bidding Race for the Cubs

Chi-Ball is speculating that Mark Cuban was never in the running to buy the Cubs. Furthermore, they claim that Zell supposedly used Cuban to increase the value of the franchise...

It is a believed by these sources that Zell has used Cuban all along to increase the bidding. The orchestration could have gone as far as inviting Cuban to sit next to Sam Zell’s right-hand man Gerry Spector at a Cubs game in the Tribune seats. A source is quoted as saying "If Mark Cuban didn’t exist, Sam Zell would have made someone like him up, he was a dream come true." "Cuban is not only out of it, he was never in it.”

Supposedly Tom Ricketts is now the leader, with Canning as the MLB owner’s favorite.

PROBLEM
This makes no sense. Did Zell call Cuban and say, “Hey Mark, I’m selling the Cubs. Can you do me a favor and make a huge bid to raise the value of the team,” highly unlikely. Perhaps Zell made a genius, yet unethical move to court Cuban, knowing all to well that he would drive up the value of the Cubs; more likely.

What about the time and money to pursue the purchase of the Cubs? If Cuban was used as bait, then he has a viable case against Zell and the MLB.

THE REALITY
Until I hear from Mark himself, I view this claim as utter bullshit. Chi-Ball, send me your address, I want to send you a Cuban and the Cubs Tee Shirt!

Get into the discussion on Topix.

Forget Zell, WEAR your support for Mark Cuban as the next owner of the Chicago Cubs; GET YOUR CUBAN AND THE CUBS TEE

Comments

[Windier E. Megatons]

My question would be, what has Zell ever done that suggested he wasn't all about making as much money as possible? What motivation would he have for ruling Cuban out of it if Cuban entered the highest bid, as was widely rumored?

[Vito]

Identify your souces or keep your trap shut? How many journalists/bloggers/blogalists ever identify their sources? All sources are now kept private.

[Chet]

This is a common business tactic. While it's not clear if there is any evidence for chi blog's post, your reasoning is suspect. This is exactly the type of thing a business would do bring up the price.

[Dubs]

This pains me to say, because I would LOVE Cuban to own the Cubs. However, I think this has legs. Since the MLB requires a 3/4 vote from MLB owners for any new owner to be accepted, and it seems that he wouldn't get that, Cuban is a perfect person for Zell to "use" to increase the bid.

On the other hand, Zell has said that he would fight tooth and nail to push the highest bidder through, even going as far as saying, "If they think they would have a problem with Cuban, wait until they mess with me."

Awesome.

[Mark Murrell]

I guess time will tell, but I am hopping this is just some BS, otherwise, I hope Cuban sues Zell for his time and cash investment.