Cuban wanted more time from Tribune Co. to tweak Cubs bid

Billionaire Mark Cuban, who is being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading, said he sought an extension from bankrupt Tribune Co. for his bid for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

"If they got the money they wanted for the team, well my bid was not going to be high enough anyway," Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, wrote on his blog today. "If they didn't, or the other bidders couldn't come up with their money, they would come back to me."

The publisher of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune has cut jobs, sold assets and put the Cubs up for sale as its advertising revenue plummets. Owner Sam Zell sought bankruptcy protection less than a year after taking the company private.

Gary Weitman, a Tribune spokesman, declined to comment on Cuban's posting or a report in the company's Tribune newspaper that the preferred bidder may be named in as little as a week.

"I never thought it conceivable that it would be hard to spend a billion dollars on a sports team," said Cuban in the posting. "In this case it was."

Previous bids for the Major League Baseball team ranged from $850 million to $950 million, a person with knowledge of the process said last month.

Cuban didn't provide specifics about his extension request. He didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.