The Chicago Cubs may become the first Major League Baseball team in 39 years to file for bankruptcy as Tribune Co. seeks to sell the franchise after months of negotiations, Bloomberg reported.

Tribune sought Chapter 11 protection in December. It is contemplating a separate filing for the Cubs to expedite the team’s estimated $900 million sale to interested bidders, including Incapital LLC Chairman Tom Ricketts, according to four people familiar with the plan.

A brief Cubs bankruptcy would be a legal maneuver to clear the team from any future liability in the Tribune bankruptcy, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sam Zell, CEO of Chicago-based Tribune, pledged the company’s interest in the Cubs as collateral when he negotiated the deal to take the publisher private in 2007, according to one of those people.

“You take it in the front door, and it’s just like you’re getting radiation,” said Michael J. Cramer, a former president of the Texas Rangers who teaches sports business at New York University. “It comes out the other door about a half minute later. It’s clean.”

Richard Levin, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, and Ricketts, through a spokesman, declined to comment.

The Cubs weren’t a part of Tribune’s bankruptcy filing. The people familiar with the matter said it remained possible the sale would close without the team filing as well.