Bidders submitted applications required by Major League Baseball months ago, but Tribune, which claims it plans to sell the team during the fourth quarter, has made no moves to further the process and may remain in possession of the team well into next year, Crain's Chicago Business reported Tuesday.

"It's maddening," said an adviser to one bidding group who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Tribune has not even decided yet whether the team, Wrigley Field and other related assets will be sold separately or as a package.

"There's no hard deadline, and I don't think that the interest in this asset is going to dwindle," a source familiar with the planning said.

"The groups that you've heard publicly that are interested in this deal, none of them have said, nor do I expect they will say, 'If I can't own it by April 1, 2008, I'm taking my money and I'm going home.'"