QU to renovate stadium dugouts; Quincy Baseball Club still negotiating with city to fund replacement of bleachers

QUINCY — Golden Rule Entertainment, the parent company of the Quincy Baseball Club, announced Nov. 15 that Quincy will field a team in the Prospect League during the summer of 2025. President Jamie Toole introduced during a press conference other members of the ownership group and Brad Gyorkos as the team’s manager, as well as a name-the-team contest.

However, the elephant in the room was not publicly addressed.

Former owners Jimmie and Julie Louthan were concerned with safety and infrastructure needs at QU Stadium when they decided in September 2023 to sell the Quincy Gems to Full Count Ministries of Henderson, Tenn. The Full Count Rhythm played in the Prospect League during the 2024 season but disbanded after one year.

The stadium concerns remain, and a plan to pay for renovations to the stadium — built in 1938 — continues to be the topic of conversations with officials from Quincy University, the City of Quincy and Toole and Tim Hoker with Golden Rule Entertainment.

Some, but not all, questions have been answered. Hoker, however, seems confident the stadium will be ready by the end of May.

“Nobody has said, ‘We can’t get it done,’” he said. “We’re going to try our best, to be sure. Between the school, the city and us, there’s not been one time where somebody said no. We’ve all said, ‘Here’s our issue. We’ve got to find a solution.’ But nobody’s ever said, ‘Hey, we’re not doing that,’ and that’s good. We’ll figure it out. We have some time. Winter’s coming, so there’s not much we can do now, but we feel we are in a good space.”

The stadium improvements that need to be addressed before Prospect League play begins are improving the seats, updating the lighting and renovating the dugouts.

Josh Rabe, athletic director at Quincy University, says the school is replacing the dugouts, “regardless if baseball is being played there next summer.” He says that work will be completed in December or January, if weather allows, or after QU’s last regular season game on April 27.

“We’re going to change the design a little bit,” Rabe said. “They’re just not going to be as deep. … We’re just property owners, and we have our own schedule of deferred maintenance. The dugouts obviously need to be replaced.”

Rabe said the dugouts were last renovated before the 2007 or 2008 seasons.

Asked if the city, university and Quincy Baseball Club are close to finalizing a renovation plan, Rabe said, “I would say that is accurate.”

Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said after the Nov. 18 Quincy City Council meeting that the new ownership group has said it will put money toward replacing the stadium bleachers.

“They want the city to participate in that, but we could not get the aldermen of that ward to support it,” Troup said. “They both want summer baseball, but the request was just too high.”

QU Stadium is in the city’s 2^nd Ward. The aldermen are Jeff Bergman, a Republican, and Dave Bauer, a Democrat. 

Troup said the city has contacted local businesses to gauge their interest in the bleacher project.

“We’ve got one yes in that (a business) would be interested in some level of participation,” he said. “I’m waiting to hear from another business, and then if we can pull a package together, then we can hopefully move forward.”

Hoker believes work on the bleachers — once financing is determined — will start once winter ends. He said the plan is to tear out all of the wooden planks, replace them and put new plastic seats on top of them.

“That’s not going to be an issue, I don’t think,” he said. “As you can finish one side, you can do the other side. Just flip-flop.”

He believes the labor to replace the seats will cost more than the seats themselves.

Hoker also said the team is looking for capital to make long-term investments in the stadium as well.

“If we can fix lights and fix the dugouts and bleachers, then maybe we’re looking at replacing the field turf down the road and turfing the outfield down the road,” he said. “There’s other cosmetic stuff to get done, and then you start looking at bringing in other events, like the (Prospect League) All-Star game.”

The Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, the other Prospect League team owned by Golden Rule Entertainment, are the hosts of the 2025 All-Star game.

“We have a one-year runway here, so we’re going to sell the heck out of it, and it’s going to be a great opportunity for that city and those players,” Hoker said. “We want to bring, eventually, the All-Star game to Quincy.”

Hoker also said Jeff Jarrett, a wrestling promoter who also is part of the Golden Rule Entertainment ownership group, has promised to bring a professional wrestling card to the stadium. He said a pro wrestling card at Springfield’s Robin Roberts Stadium attracted about 1,200 fans.

“Jeff is in new business growth and also writes storylines for (All-Elite Wrestling),” Hoker said. “All these young men — we want to call them second-tier wrestlers — are really good wrestlers who are looking for a break. They all came to Springfield because Jeff asks. We had a wonderful card of future superstars and great performers that last two and a half hours. Jeff got into the ring and performed, and it was a great, great show.”