The deadline for bidders interested in purchasing the Chicago Sun-Times - and the rest of the properties in the Sun-Times Media Group - has come and gone.
Chicago businessman Jim Tyree already has a $26.5 million offer on the table, but has met with resistance from unions put off by Tyree's draconian requests for concessions.
The head of the Chicago Newspaper Guild had said another bidder had come knocking on their door, but that bidder's identity was never revealed.
Union leader Thomas Thibeault told the Reader's Michael Miner that the mystery bidder is someone with a recognizable name, but also that "I didn’t really read him that well. What's his game plan I don’t know."
The bankruptcy court handling the Sun-Times Media Group's auction is scheduled to consider on Thursday whatever bid the company recommends. Talks with the Guild will likely continue in any case through Wednesday night.
So while the deadline facing the Sun-Times is really a string of long, drawn-out dripping deadlines akin to water torture, some sort of endgame is in sight.
Chances are, it will not be pretty. The question remaining seems to be how ugly can it get and still be acceptable.
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Upon that formula, the fate of the Sun-Times - and its sister suburban papers - seems to rest.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
