This Can't be Good

What was shaping up as a proxy fight now seems to be cooling into a more relaxed state:

... there are indications the (Chandlers and the Tribune Board) are attempting to find middle ground. First there is the unanimity of the board, which had split over Tribune's plan to repurchase shares, with the Chandlers' three representatives urging a breakup or sale of the company. Then there is the apparent softening of Tribune's previous insistence the (LA) Times would not be sold.

The best hope for Cubs' fans was, indeed, a proxy fight and the breakup of the company. While that was always a long shot, the shot just got longer. That said, there is a ray of hope:

the failure of the buyback to give the company's stock a lasting boost means Tribune has to be open to at least consider other potential strategies, even if they stop short of the breakup or company sale the Chandlers so loudly advocated in June.

What this seems to say is that "all options are being researched." That could include a sale of the team, but it would have to be a huge sale price:

A problem for the historically tax-averse family, as well as Tribune, would be capital gains taxes (selling the LA Times) could produce, however. And this has been one of the arguments made for not divesting such long-held and lucrative properties.

One of those properties is the Cubs.

When you consider that the ML teams passed on taking MLB.com public, and the billion dollars associated with such an IPO, one has to believe that the Trib will hold on to the Cubs for dear life.

Or, at least until the CW Network tanks.