Chicago Cubs bidders line up to take a swing

By Ben Klayman and Robert MacMillan

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two potential bidders for the Chicago Cubs said they only want the professional baseball team if the deal includes the landmark Wrigley Field, with one bidder saying he was willing to pay what would be a record price.

Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell won a bid for Cubs owner Tribune Co. on Monday, offering to take the newspaper publisher and broadcaster private in a deal valuing it at $8.2 billion.

To help finance the deal, Tribune said it would sell the Cubs. But Zell said in a newspaper interview he may sell Wrigley, the second oldest ballpark in baseball, separately.

The Cubs are an icon due to their national TV exposure and a storied history that includes several well-known misses on the field that gave them the image of being "lovable losers."

Some analysts have said the Cubs could attract bids topping the $700 million, including debt, that an investor group paid for the Boston Red Sox and a large stake in a regional cable TV sports network in 2002.

Others say a $1 billion price tag is within reach.

William Marovitz, a real estate developer and former state senator, told Reuters on Wednesday he has a bidding group for the Cubs and Wrigley Field, which was built in 1914.

"I would never be part of a Cubs ownership that didn't involve Wrigley Field," said Marovitz, whose wife is Playboy Enterprises Inc. Chief Executive Christie Hefner.