Canning looking like the frontrunner to buy the Cubs; Latest: Cuban, 2 others are finalists

[rotoherb]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu_canning_0802aug02,0,2383561.story

 

Is it a conflict of interest to own 11% of the Brewers and be actively trying to buy the Cubs? I'd doubt that he has much if any say in running the team, but it just seems like an odd thing to have an owner actively trying to jump ship to the competition.

[pitchleague]

I would think if he does win the bid to buy the Cubs, he'd have to sell his share in the Brewers. Or something like that.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, that would be pretty obvious.

[RightFieldCoder]

I think you can own one team and try to buy another team. It would just be in the contract that he sells his shares of the Brewers. Didn't the old Expos owner sell the team so he could buy the Marlins so that dude could buy the Red Sox?

[Never Outhustled]

Thats great news, Canning is part of the thriftyness in Milwaukee, so he won't give the Cubs any sort of competitive edge. Much more appealing to a Brewers fan than the scrubs getting Mark Cuban.

[splitterpfj]

I can't remember now if it was John Henry or Jeffrey Loria, one of them owned a small stake in the Yankees, prior to buying a team.

[gypcasino]

Belling's column today is regarding this topic.

http://www.gmtoday.com/milwaukeetoday/editorials/belling.asp

"It is unimaginable it would happen in any other business in America. One of the owners of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team is not only actively attempting to buy the Brewers' archrival, the Chicago Cubs, but there are indications he is already involved in decisions being made by his new company (the Cubs).

It's hard to decide what's worse:

a) that Brewers majority owner Mark Attanasio is tolerating this;

b) that no one in the lame Milwaukee sports media is reporting it (or even knows about it);

c) that baseball commissioner Bud Selig, himself a former Brewers owner, is condoning this blatant conflict of interest."

[endaround]

Of course only Mark Belling believes this doesn't happen in any other business.

[colbyjack]

An article by Ken Rosenthal from over the weekend (talking about the Cubs going after Arod as posted in the Trade Rumors forum) noted that Canning and Bud Selig are good friends, further noting that Selig likes to have people he knows and trusts owning big-league franchises. If Selig isn't upset about this (and we don't actually know this or not), I'm guessing it isn't as atrocious of an act as Belling makes it out to be (surprise surprise).

[TooLiveBrew]

Belling exaggerate something? *gasp!*

[homer]

There was an article in the Sun Times over the weekend about potential new owners and one of the local groups here in Chicago is a group of businessmen that really bleed Cubby Blue. One of the guys in that group is the annoying dude in the front row behind home plate at Wrigley that wears the pink Cubs hat.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Wow, now I finally know who this Belling guy is. What a baseless, uneducated opinion.

[bjkrautk]

As someone who listens to his show on a daily basis (note: he's got a fill-in host today), can we not make this thread about Belling, but about Canning and the Cubs?

[Bring Back the Stein]

Oh to be a fly on the wall of Tribune Corp. I hope that their baseball team follows the fate of their tanking stock, which is the sword hanging over any discussion of the sale of the Cubs.

 

(And I agree with a "No Belling" rule. That way lies madness.)

[dadofandrew]

Until he owns part of another team, it's meaningless.

 

As long as Mark A owns 51% of the team, Canning's shares mean nothing.

[rluzinski]

Belling likes to take benign situations and feign outrage.

 

Get the masses worked up about nothing = ratings = profit!

[RightFieldCoder]

I thought it was Steal Underpants = Step 2 = Profits?

 

Belling sometimes has good points but knows nothing about sports.

 

I just hope that whomever buys the team cares more about $$$ than actually winning.

[SeriesFinale]

There was an article in the Sun Times over the weekend about potential new owners and one of the local groups here in Chicago is a group of businessmen that really bleed Cubby Blue. One of the guys in that group is the annoying dude in the front row behind home plate at Wrigley that wears the pink Cubs hat.

That group was featured in an online article this week, too--I think on Yahoo. They struck me as rank amateurs...I think the NSBB guys kinda hate Pink Hat, too.

[Team Canada]

Latest: Canning is out, Cuban and 2 other groups are the finalists:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3503599

[jwill535]

While he would be good for the Cubs, I can almost guarantee that the other owners will not let Cuban get within inches of owning a major league team. Before you ask, the reason that he is a finalist is because they have to make it look good because more then likely he is one of the top bidders.

[naivin]

From the very beginning of this thing, I have had the feeling that Cuban is not seriously interested in buying the Cubs, but is involved more or less because he should be - more from a publicity standpiont. Perhaps seeing an opportunity to make his bid the highest, though not necessarily the best, and seizing on an opportunity to cry foul against MLB, file a lawsuit, embarass MLB, mess with their anti-trust exemption...I haven't quite established what I think the motivation is, but i don't believe it is to own the Cubs.

[Yeti73]

1.3 Billion is what they say he offered, which is the highest bid so far. Hank Aaron is involved too with one of the bids.

[orca1963]

Part of me would actually like to see Cuban get the Cubs. While he would probably open the purse strings even more, he strikes me as someone who is more concerned with his own ego than with the team. He would probably (Yankee like) bring in the big names. Would he be able to actually put together a team that was cohesive? I don't follow basketball much so maybe someone could tell me what his success with his team has been. I don't seem to remember seeing them in the post season much.