Tribune ends first round of bids for Cubs, Wrigley

Tribune Co.--which has not publicly set a timetable for the sale--closed the preliminary round of bidding for the baseball team, stadium and the Cubs' 25 percent stake in a regional sports cable channel.

The company said it will not disclose the names of the bidders or the number of offers it received.

In June, Major League Baseball, which must approve the sale of any team, sent out financial books on the three properties to nine preapproved bidders.

The list reportedly includes a group headed by John Canning, chairman of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC; Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; and the family of online brokerage Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts.

Those three groups and others are believed to have bid on some or all of the properties.

A spokeswoman for Tribune CEO Sam Zell, a real estate mogul who orchestrated last year's $8.2 billion employee buyout of Tribune, confirmed the Friday deadline. She declined further comment.

Tribune is selling the ballpark and baseball team because it needs money to pay down billions of dollars in debt related to the buyout. The company previously sold an operating interest in Long Island, N.Y., daily Newsday and put up other assets as collateral to raise a combined $900 million to service the debt.

That money will cover a $650 million lump-sum debt payment Tribune must make in December, along with other short-term commitments.

"We have the liquidity we need for 2008," said Zell spokeswoman Terry Holt.