MLB won't let Mark Cuban buy the Cubs

[Neroon]

Why? Seriously... why is Major League Baseball so intent upon denying Cuban buying the Cubs? I am not a fan of the team or of Cuban himself. It just seems from the bleachers here that he'd be a good fit. He has a reputation for interacting with the fans, he isn't shy about spending money to take care of his Mavericks players, so I'm guessing it'd be no different with the baseball players. He may have an ego, but then I suspect most team owners do.

I am curious as to what the Cubs fans here (JKTim et al) think. Do you feel Cuban would be a good owner for the Cubbies, or does MLB have a point?

 

[Starbreaker]

I don't understand it. He seems like a nice guy with a good track record, but they want some guy in a stuffy suit.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

He doesn't go along with the status quo and is not shy about getting his opinion out there on what he thinks needs to be done to improve the game.

At his core, he's a sports fan who made a lot of money in business which enabled him to buy a pro team.

I think it's ridiculous if true, and one more reason that Bud Selig is one of the worst things to happen to the Great Game in recent memory.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

This report is a message to Zell from MLB that he needs to reconsider selling to Cuban. Selig's pick -- and yes, Selig has a buyer in mind -- is John Canning.

The problem for MLB is that Sam Zell needs the money and he needs to sell the Cubs. And Zell isn't going to give a damn what Selig, Reinsdorf, and their cronies think about Mark Cuban. If Cuban gives Zell the highest bid, Zell is going to sell to Cuban, MLB be damned.

The only reason I can see someone from MLB saying this is that Zell wants to sell to Cuban. Cuban has the assets, Zell needs the money, and the way the economy is going, making a deal now is in Zell's best interest.

This could well wind up in court before all is said and done.

And Starbreaker, it's not that they want someone in a "suit." It's that they want someone they can control. It's cronyism, pure and simple. Cuban, in their view, is a loose cannon.

And the other strike against Cuban is that he understands media, since that's where he made his money. Cuban would have the experience -- and the clout -- to say to baseball, "Your television deals? Your blackouts? Your territorial rights? You idiots are doing it wrong and leaving money on the table." That's an issue that baseball doesn't want to revisit in any meaningful way. The Extra Innings packages on cable and satellite could be so much better, but baseball's more than likely to stick with the status quo.

 

[Mallory]

I'm pretty baffled by Selig's resistance as well, unless he has a vested interest in Canning's bid.

 

[Timby]

The problem for MLB is that Sam Zell needs the money and he needs to sell the Cubs. And Zell isn't going to give a damn what Selig, Reinsdorf, and their cronies think about Mark Cuban. If Cuban gives Zell the highest bid, Zell is going to sell to Cuban, MLB be damned.

Untrue. Remember, John Henry's bid for the Red Sox was for less money than what Charles Dolan offered.

26 of the 30 MLB owners, if memory serves, need to approve any sale of a team, and with the owners that Selig has in his back pocket (Reinsdorf, Loria, et al.), and because of MLB's antitrust exemption, there are no legal blocks to such a rejection.

While I support Cuban, the resistance from MLB's structure is understandable: He's a loud-mouthed jackass who misses no opportunity to question and challenge officials, administration and general decorum. I can't honestly fault the MLB ownership for taking a look at his behavior in the NBA and saying, "You know, we really don't want that here."

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The problem for MLB is that Sam Zell needs the money and he needs to sell the Cubs. And Zell isn't going to give a damn what Selig, Reinsdorf, and their cronies think about Mark Cuban. If Cuban gives Zell the highest bid, Zell is going to sell to Cuban, MLB be damned.

Untrue. Remember, John Henry's bid for the Red Sox was for less money than what Charles Dolan offered.

Zell's interest is in making his debt service payment on the Tribune Company. Taking less money for the Cubs -- which he doesn't care about, except in the sense that it's something he can sell -- isn't going to sit well with him. Zell is not someone to be told that he has to take less money for his asset.

26 of the 30 MLB owners, if memory serves, need to approve any sale of a team, and with the owners that Selig has in his back pocket (Reinsdorf, Loria, et al.), and because of MLB's antitrust exemption, there are no legal blocks to such a rejection.

I'm not sure if the Antitrust Exemption would withstand a court challenge. MLB certainly thought it wouldn't when Mike Piazza's father sued about twenty years ago when they blocked his purchase of the San Francisco Giants and made a cash payment to make him go away.

While I support Cuban, the resistance from MLB's structure is understandable: He's a loud-mouthed jackass who misses no opportunity to question and challenge officials, administration and general decorum. I can't honestly fault the MLB ownership for taking a look at his behavior in the NBA and saying, "You know, we really don't want that here."

I'd rather have a fan owning the Cubs, though, than one of Selig's cronies. Just like Peter Angelos has poisoned the baseball well here in Baltimore, ostensibly to keep baseball out of DC, it's not unbelievable to me that Selig would want to keep Reinsdorf happy by forcing Zell to sell the Cubs to someone who simply wouldn't be able to compete with the Sox in the Chicago market.

 

[Cicero]

Maybe they had advance word of the pending insider trading charges against him?

 

[Neroon]

Maybe they had advance word of the pending insider trading charges against him?

That was along the same line I was considering when I first heard the story of the charges yesterday, that if proven this would completely scuttle whatever small chance Cuban had of buying the Cubs.

 

[Timby]

Well, these are civil charges, not criminal, so it's essentially a lawsuit as opposed to felony proceedings.

Even if that weren't the case, it's not like MLB is a stranger to having a convicted felon owning one of its most storied and revered franchises.

 

[Neroon]

Yeah, I know they're only civil charges, but from the sound of things there could be federal charges cropping up from this case. Regardless, with the response from the owners given earlier, I figured they'd love to have this as ammunition of a sort.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I don't understand it. Personally, baseball needs a voice like Cuban.