DAVENPORT, IOWA (October 7, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits have announced that Joe Kubly will take over as the team’s General Manager later this month. Kubly who served as the Bandits Director of Sales and Ticketing in 2014 and 2015, has been the President of the Grand Junction Rockies since 2016.
Kubly was named the Pioneer League’s Executive of the Year following the 2018 season after Grand Junction set a single-game attendance-record and hosted the league’s All-Star Game. The native of Forreston, Illinois, starts with the River Bandits on October 14, when he will represent the club at the Midwest League general managers meeting in Fort Wayne. His first day in the office will be October 17.
“Joe Kubly did a tremendous job for us when he was here, and I could not be more excited about welcoming him back,” said team owner Dave Heller. “Joe is a natural leader whose enthusiasm is infectious. He shares my commitment to putting our fans first and to keeping Modern Woodmen Park the friendliest ballpark in America. Joe did a phenomenal job turning around the Grand Junction team and we’re excited to have him take us to the next level.”
Kubly graduated from Northern Illinois University with an MS degree in Sports Management. He has also previously worked for the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA and the Oklahoma City Dodgers, a Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. An introductory press conference will be held at Modern Woodmen Park on October 23.
“I’m so excited to be coming back to the Quad Cities, and excited to continue to provide affordable, fun, family-friendly entertainment to people throughout the region,” said Kubly. “Being from Illinois, and engaged to a woman from the Quad Cities, it’s great to be coming home, working with Dave Heller, and becoming an integral part of the fabric of the Quad Cities.”
Jacqueline Holm, the River Bandits General Manager during the 2019 season, has been offered another position with the organization with no reduction in salary and benefits.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: The 2019 season marked the River Bandits’ seventh year as the Class-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and the twelfth anniversary season of regaining the River Bandits moniker, which was voted a top-8 nickname in all of Minor League Baseball in 2015. The River Bandits anchor the Quad Cities sports market, which The Sports Business Journal in their latest rankings named one of the top-two minor-league sports-market in the country. Each year the River Bandits donate three annual all-tuition-paid college-scholarships, a value of approximately $85,000, as part of the Bandit Scholars Program, which has been in place since 2009. Charitable contributions surpassed $600,000 in 2018, including a $100,000 cash-donation to Genesis Health Systems; in 2015 and again in 2017, Ballpark Digest awarded the Bandits its “Best Charity Campaign” of the year, making the River Bandits the only team to win that coveted award twice.
