Cubs' offer won't be voted on next week: sources

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Major League Baseball owners will not vote next week on whether to approve the Ricketts family's $900 million bid for the Chicago Cubs as some had hoped, two sources familiar with the process said on Saturday.

Officials with Tribune Co, which is selling the team, along with its storied Wrigley Field home and a 25 percent stake in a local sports TV network, said previously they hoped to have the sale closed in May. Sources previously told Reuters the process would likely drag on past that point.

"There's a whole bunch of moving parts here, that's the problem," said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. "It's not going to be this owners' meeting, but it's sooner rather than later."

Tom Ricketts, chief executive of Chicago investment bank Incapital LLC and son of the founder of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp, is leading his family's bid, which was selected in January as the winning offer. The family is still completing negotiations with Tribune Co, the first source said.

Bidders were eager to take control of the National League team, which despite not winning a World Series title since 1908 has a huge fan base helped by its "lovable losers" image and national exposure on cable TV.

The initial hope was for owners to vote on the Ricketts' bid at their meeting in New York on Wednesday and Thursday. The bid requires the approval of 75 percent of Major League Baseball's 30 team owners.

Tribune Co, which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December due to its heavy debt load and the weak U.S. publishing sector. It put the Cubs on the block in April 2007, when Tribune agreed to an $8.2 billion buyout led by real estate magnate Sam Zell.

NEGOTIATIONS DRAGGING