Buyer Wants Belushi, Cusack, Murray In on Cubs Deal

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2009 10:36 AM CDT
Buyer Wants Belushi, Cusack, Murray In on Cubs Deal
Fans stand outside Wrigley Field after the baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals was postponed because of rain, April 19, 2009.   (AP Photo)

Would-be Cubs buyer Tom Ricketts has approached a bunch of baseball-loving celebrities, including Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, and John Cusack, about going in with him on the team, the Chicago Tribune reports. Ricketts is asking each to pitch in $25 million, say sources—who add that Ricketts doesn’t need the money to close the deal with the Tribune Company.

Banks have already agreed to lend Ricketts $450 million to finance the purchase, and he’s raised another $400 million by selling shares of TD Ameritrade, which his father founded. The major snags in a deal now are the Cubs’ radio and television rights, currently tied up in potentially below-market contracts with the Tribune-owned WGN stations. (More Tribune Company stories.)

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