Tribune moved closer to the sale of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and related assets after a creditors committee in the newspaper publisher’s bankruptcy proceedings said it preferred a bid submitted by Tom Ricketts, head of Incapital LLC, a Chicago investment bank, according to a person familiar with the process.

Mr Ricketts’ bid and a separate bid led by Marc Utay, managing partner of Clarion Capital Partners, a private equity firm, will be presented to Major League Baseball, which will ultimately decide a winner, the source said.