Winner in Cubs sale process to be picked this week

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The winner in the long-awaited sale of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team will be identified this week, three sources close to the process said on Tuesday.

"Bidders have been told a single party to negotiate with will be chosen this week," said one source, who asked not to be identified because the sale has not closed.

Tribune Co, which owns the Cubs and filed for bankruptcy protection last month, declined to comment. Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said in December that he expected a sale by spring training, which starts in February.

While the Cubs are not part of the bankruptcy filing, analysts expect the court to weigh in on the sale, which they estimate could attract bids of around $1 billion, the most ever paid for a U.S. sports franchise.

Bidders are anxious to take control of the team, which has not won a World Series title since 1908 but is nationally recognized due to its history as a lovable losers and its national exposure on cable television.

The final three bidding groups include Tom Ricketts, chief executive of Chicago investment bank Incapital LLC and the son of the founder of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp; Marc Utay, a managing partner with New York-based private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners LLC; and Chicago real estate executive Hersh Klaff.

Utay and a spokesman for Ricketts declined to comment, and Klaff could not be reached.

Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of its heavy debt load and the weak U.S. publishing sector. The owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers put the Cubs on the block in April 2007, when Tribune announced it would be bought for $8.2 billion by a group led by real estate magnate Sam Zell.