They are wholly owned by the Ricketts family, the Omaha based clan who's patriarch started Ameritrade. All the second generation kids live in Chicago, and Tom runs the show . The "shareholders" are about 4-5 people in one family . They don't really answer to anyone but themselves. Sure , some capital spending stuff is on borrowed money, but that is the same thing with Steinbrenner clan . The Ricketts have to answer to lenders for capital spending issues , but not operations stuff.
Tom Ricketts tends to let Theo make ALL baseball decisions , but obviously Theo has to get Tom to sign off when he is negotiating big long term contracts.
The Yankees will likely always be #1, and the Dodgers #2. But the Cubs and BoSox and perhaps another team or 2 will always be in top 5 or so. When the Cubs start their own network this winter, they will most likely solidify their #3 status .