I saw a brief Associated Press article on Crain’s Chicago Business’ RSS feed last night that spoke volumes to me. It was about the upcoming sale of the Chicago Cubs by the Tribune Company. As there have been delays in the overall acquisition of the Tribune by billionaire Sam Zell, there have also been delays in the sale of the storied baseball team.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has publicly acknowledged he wants to buy the team and that he has submitted an application to Major League Baseball to do so. There are rumors, and this article states it as well, that other baseball team owners may not want Cuban to be one of them, namely due to his highly energetic and outspoken style as an NBA team owner.

Here’s his response to this query:

"I don't do things just for the sake of doing them. It's a passion project, it makes great business sense for me, there's a lot of leverage there. There's so many business applications, so many technology applications I can do in Chicago. There's a lot of opportunities."

Business applications? Technology applications? Awesome!

Mark Cuban’s investment of money, time – even his attention – to the tech and business community in Chicago would be very much welcome addition. Especially in the tech venue, where attention in the US is mostly directed to the Left Coast of the country, Cuban’s investment in the heartland will go well with the rest of us who have done the same.

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