Today is the deadline day for the Star Tribune’s 40 owners to tender their shares to Twin Cities moguls Vance Opperman and Glen Taylor. Opperman and Taylor are looking for between 25 percent and 35 percent of the enterprise; even if the Strib’s Big Five (Wayzata Investment Partners; Angelo, Gordon; Credit Suisse; CIT Bank; and GE Capital) want to hold on, there are plenty of small fry who might want to cash out.

Opperman told me this morning that he won’t know for “several days” whether he and Taylor are in. For now, the deadline hasn’t been extended. The question still on the table is how close the duo might be. If I find that out, I’ll let you know.

By the way, Opperman’s and Taylor’s appetites might only have been whetted by the Strib’s bold charter-school investigation Sunday. (Bless you, folks, for putting it online the same day!) It’s the second big-deal investigation the Strib has unleashed in two weeks — following nursing home falls — and makes good on the organization’s promise to deliver ass-kickers. I’ll have more to say on the charter series after doing some reporting, including debriefing the Strib folks.

On the flip side, these guys are money guys, and they might be humbled looking at today’s sports section. Not the content; the 14-page section was a treat for fans luxuriating in the Vikes’ domination of Chicago. But — at least in my Minneapolis copy — fewer than two pages of ads for a post-game edition during holiday shopping season? I know it’s a Monday, but ouch.