CHICAGO &#8212 Five months after Tribune Co. announced plans to sell the Chicago Cubs, the first-place ballclub is making much more noise on the field than its corporate owners have been about the slow-moving sale process.

But whether the Cubs make the playoffs or even manage to capture their first World Series in 99 years, an emerging lineup of deep-pocketed bidders has put Tribune in strong position to net a record price for the franchise.

Tribune put the team and historic Wrigley Field on the block in April, saying it would sell the team after the season and intended to do so by the end of the year. But its bankers have yet to send out detailed financial information to prospective bidders and are not expected to do so until mid-September, jeopardizing that timetable.

An anonymous source familiar with the sale process said there’s no chance of the sale being completed this year, with a more realistic target now baseball’s opening day in spring 2008. The source, who declined to be identified out of concern of disrupting the process, said “five or six legitimate groups” have emerged as would-be buyers, but declined to give details.

Tribune, which is in the process of going private in an $8.2 billion buyout being led by real estate magnate Sam Zell, isn’t talking about dates, names or numbers. A spokesman for the media conglomerate, Gary Weitman, said the company doesn’t want the process to be a distraction to the season.

“We’d like to get the sale done as soon as possible after the baseball season ends,” Weitman said. “But I can’t and wouldn’t predict what the timing will be.”

Currently, the Cubs are clinging to a slim – and rare – lead in the National League Central Division and trying to get to the World Series for the first time since 1945. They haven’t won one since 1908.

That legacy hasn’t scared off potential buyers.

While the price remains impossible to peg before the first bid is even placed, sports economists say the expressed interest of several billionaires, among other well-heeled investors, make it a good bet it will exceed the record $660 million paid for the Boston Red Sox in 2002 by a group headed by billionaire commodities trader John Henry.

The Cubs’ package includes not only Wrigley but Tribune’s 25 percent stake in the Comcast sports channel in Chicago, fueling widespread speculation the total could reach $1 billion.