The Quincy Civic Center Authority will retain ownership of the Quincy Gems (summer collegiate; Prospect League) and field a team in 2014 while continuing to find a new owner for the team.
The team lost $23,178 in 2012 and $91,000 in 2013, leading the Quincy Civic Center Authority to put the team on the market. With no buyer emerging, the authority has pretty much no choice but to forge ahead with a team this season. From the Quincy Whig:
“At this point, I don’t think that anyone is going to come forward and want to buy the team prior to the season,” Rob Ebbing, executive director of the Oakley-Lindsay Center and the Quincy Gems, said after Wednesday’s Quincy Civic Center Authority meeting. “I’m not saying they’re going away. They’re just at a point today where they’re not ready to pull the trigger to make the sale.
“We said all along we’re going to run the season. There was a point in there where we were kind of waiting to see where the development of the conversation was going to go and how fast they are going to move.”
He said negotiations continue with potential buyers, which are not all from Quincy. Authority members had said they hoped the team would remain in Quincy. In December, Ebbing said the suitors planned to keep the team in town.
The Prospect League will see one new team this season, with the Slippery Rock Sliders moving to Springfield, Ohio, and playing as the Champion City Kings.
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