Really? They Want to Buy the 'San Diego U-T?'

Jen: The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has been languishing on the market since this summer, is attracting some suitors. Randy Dotinga at the Voice of San Diego reports a source connected with the sale said no less than four -- yes four! -- newspaper companies have coming sniffing around. Oh yeah, and the requisite group of local people with money. The interested newspaper parties are rumored to be The New York Times, MediaNews Group, Tribune, and Black Press.

I cannot fathom why the New York Times would seriously take on San Diego after dumping Santa Barbara. Or even if it did have a thing for San Diego why would it put its stock at further risk? The Street would be swift and brutal with its punishment. MediaNews Group and Tribune have maxed out their credit cards. And its hard to see David Black who took on Akron -- and most likely regrets it -- go for an even bigger paper.

That said, San Diego is a fantastic market with a terrific online property. California will swing back (and so will Florida). If I had to put money on this one, I say MediaNews Group. Never rule out Dean Singleton. More from Fitz after the jump ...

Fitz: All the reasons to covet the U-T are in your last paragraph, Jen. A few weeks ago I was having drinks with a non-C-level exec (pretty much the only ones who will drink with me) who told me with a sparkle in his eye that he wished his chain was currently in an acquisition mode. Someday the housing market will have to correct itself in San Diego, and by that time the terrific investigative reporting the U-T has done on the incompetence and corruption that too long ruled the city will likely be righted as well.

From a hard-eyed newspaper baron point of view, the Copley family has also shaped up the paper very well over the years. They've spared Dean Singleton or David Black from having to tangle with labor -- the unions are long gone. And remember, too, that nobody's going to pay the kind of multiples the U-T should, by all rights, fetch.

After the brief flirtation with the ideas that so-called locals would be the saviors of their hometown dailies -- yeah, I'm talking about you, Sam Zell and Brian Tierney -- it's a delight to see pros back at the table.