The owner of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field is seeking bankruptcy protection. (Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)

The owner of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs is seeking bankruptcy protection, it was announced on Monday.

The parent company, Tribune Co., said in Delaware that it is seeking Chapter 11 haven in a move that would allow transfer of the team to new ownership.

Tribune Co. is looking to put the finishing touches on an $845-million sale of the team, Wrigley Field and other related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts.

Tribune Co., which also owns the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, filed for bankruptcy protection in December last year, but the Cubs were not part of that deal.

It is expected the Cubs' stay in Chapter 11 would be brief and would protect the team's new owners from potential claims from Tribune creditors.

Tribune bought the Cubs in 1981 for $20.5 million and announced plans to sell the franchise in 2007, but those plans were muddied by the recession and the global collapse of credit markets.

The company agreed to sell a 95 per cent stake to the Ricketts family while Tribune planned to keep the remaining five per cent.

The bankruptcy filing by the Cubs is not the first for a Major League Baseball team. The Baltimore Orioles were sold in a bankruptcy auction in 1993, and the same happened to the Seattle Pilots in 1969. The new owners of that franchise relocated to Milwaukee and changed the team's moniker to the Brewers.

The National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes filed for bankruptcy last May.