It’s up for debate right now. Last night, Darren Rovell tweeted this: “Haven’t yet found a bank who will admit they’ve agreed 2 finance Utay’s second Cubs bid. Is this deal real or a bluff?”

Today, the Sun-Times has a source that’s calling the report of a second deal for the Cubs involving Marc Utay, the one separate from the deal sent along to MLB involving Tom Ricketts, “flat-out wrong.”

So, this is the situation we have right now: anonymous sources saying completely opposing things to different news outlets. Fun! As has always been the case here, nothing is over till it’s over, and even when it appears to be over, it’s not over. I half expect Marc Utay and Tom Ricketts to have some sort of Face/Off transformation, so Ricketts appears to be the owner, but it’s actually Utay’s body. Maybe they can split the bid and become co-owners, and there can be a zany reality show on NBC about their struggles to compromise on key issues.

They can call it “Marc and Tom Plus 25.” I see no reason why it wouldn’t be an immediate success. I look forward to seeing them on the cover of US Weekly for 30 consecutive weeks.

Remember this morning when I wrote how that second suitor Sam Zell was going after vanished, and him and Tom Ricketts came to a preliminary deal of sorts, and though not final, it’s been sent along to MLB? This was progress. Finally.

But it looks like Sam Zell has one-upped the Ricketts group. He actually dipped back into the pool and grabbed Marc Utay — one of the four finalists bidding on the team before the Tribune picked Ricketts to exclusively bid. And Marc Utay and Sam Zell have some fancy paperwork that details a deal for the Cubs, too. What a sly fox that Zell is.

Reuters has the details:

One of the sources reporting the Utay group’s deal said the new offer is “a higher price but less cash upfront” than the Ricketts bid.

“I don’t think it’s completely over yet,” said the source, who asked not to be identified because the sale process is ongoing. “By the same token, Ricketts has a real edge here.”

Tribune, which has been trying to sell the team for more than two years to reduce the company’s debt burden, said no agreements are in place.

“We have not reached an agreement on terms with either party,” Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman said.

It’s actually quite the savvy business move by Zell. By submitting two deals to bankruptcy court (if the Tribune Co. chooses to do that), it only increases the chances of something going through. One has to feel for the Ricketts group: they were basically assured a date to the prom, but now will have to battle it out with some other bro for the Cubs’ hand at the dance.

Who knew the sale of a team would have this many twists? Mark Cuban, you still out there?

This is really gonna happen, kids. The Tribune Co. is oh so close to dumping their seemingly only entity of worth right now, the Chicago Cubs, onto a really rich dude. The Trib has the details on the three final bidders: Tom Ricketts (a name we’ve heard as a front-runner all along), Marc Utay and Hersch Klaff.

First, Mr. Ricketts:

Cubs connection: Tom Ricketts grew up watching the team on WGN. Once lived in an apartment above a bar across the street from Wrigley Field. Met his wife in the bleachers at a Cubs game.

Ricketts scores points with Cubs fans for his cutesy, fairytale story of fandom. This may also doom him as an owner.

Second, Utay:

Business style: During the 1990s put together leveraged buyout deals in media, telecommunications and entertainment for investment banker Wasserstein Perella. A director of IMAX Corp., the large-format film company. Said to have bid on two hockey franchises without winning either.

Utay scores points with Cubs fans as they sympathize with him losing out on two hockey franchises. This may also doom him as an owner.

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Mark Cuban is already out of the running for Cubs owner. We already know that much. But, despite complete, utter and total financial destruction across the entire country, it appears that there actually could be a winner announced soon in the silent auction that is being held for the Chicago Cubs. (Despite what Ryan said at the end of his last post.)

That’s right. Pretty soon we get to find out what owner will be making an early October press conference to say he’s not disappointed with the team’s performance in the first round of the playoffs and he has big hopes for 2010.

Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Cubs, is close to selecting a winning bid for the team from three finalists, according to people familiar with the sales talks.

Three prospective buyers made offers for the franchise at the end of November: Chicago real estate investor Hersch Klaff; the Ricketts family, founders of online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by Marc Utay, a New York private-equity investor who grew up in Chicago.

But, unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. See, apparently there are a few “bad” scenarios here for whoever might “win.” First of all, the Trib Co. can still yank the Cubs off the table. Just ’cause they want to, which seems totally fair.

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