New 40th jersey...Checkered Numbers?

Sabres Hockey Central has uncovered some more possible details about the new 40th Anniversary alternate. Their source informs and claims that indeed a new white away jersey is set to arrive for the upcoming season and that the new alternate is going to have some unique surprises that may hit or miss with the fans.

"The new 3rd jersey will look very different from anything the Sabres have done before. It will be royal blue with a “Buffalo” script in white across the front, with the player’s number underneath. A vintage logo will be underneath the script with 20 on one side of the sabres and 10 on the other."

Ryan from Sabretake.com came up with a mock-up after hearing the details.

I think the 20 and 10 will however be inside the shield like the 'puck drop' banner that is available now.

I'm a little puzzled with how the Sabres decribed this new jersey in the puck drop announcement. If this is to be a new permanent alternate third jersey from here forward, why have 2010 slapped on the front? If the new jersey is just for this year, then does that mean a slug is coming back as a potential home alternate for 2011-2012? That would be illogical, but possible until the team comes up with another alternate uniform...maybe a gold one? Either way the slug is still on the way out, or at least a minimized role and that pleases me greatly. Now, I just stand confused about the third jersey future probably as much as the Buffalo Sabres are likely to be.

They are about as good as laying out a new uniform and promoting as Nicholas Cage is at balancing his checkbook.

*****UPDATE******

I have a source I trust who said there is no checkered designs involved with the new jersey. They did confirm that the nameplate on the back is correct with the colors used in the mock-up but other than that the quote when shown the picture was "Not even close".

Another 40th Anniversary third jersey concept?

Sabres colors, paired with the vintage script of the AHL Bisons. It seems to align with the description from Icethetics' recent post from Chris' source. I think this is either a concept idea submission or a real deal 'mockup', which trys to make believable given the marketing language that is spliced along with the picture focusing on creating a look that will pair well with existing team merchandise offerings.

I know it's only a one year 40th anniversary special uniform but this or a likeness of it should please a lot of young and old hardcore Sabres fans alike. I certainly am not the biggest script logo fan, but even though they did go along with Minnesota's idea, they made it unique, not baseball looking, classy, and relevant to Buffalo hockey history. If this is close to the real thing, it will be well received.

If indeed that is a screen shot of a Sabres creative designer's monitor, then that is a well executed drive-by with the camera phone. FTW.


Image from a sportslogos.net forum posting and owned by LetsGoBuffalo83.

How to hold a great jersey hostage...

Mr. Quinn, along with the last game at The Aud and The Winter Classic, please do not let these be the last times we see the Buffalo Sabres play in the white vintage uniform. Now we hear your how the Winter Classic maybe the last time fans will see the white vintage on ice. What a terrible selling point Larry...Please don't turn that vintage logo into a relic...Bring it back, put it on the current jersey, or update it (ala New Blue and Gold project)...but you or some other Buffalo Sabres earth shaker need to realize that sewing that embarassing slug logo on a hockey jersey was a terrible mistake.



I don't want this to be one of the last memories of that awesome jersey...

Here's how you fix it...

Sorry to steal your title, Chris!

"It was easier to start from scratch," said Frank Cravotta, Sabres director of creative services. "When your old logo is such an icon, it's hard to redo it."

This was a quote taken and recorded by the Buffalo News at some point last season during the logo leak. What bothers me most is that there were over 80 logos to choose from and the slug is what RBK and the Sabres thinktank settled for.

So in regards to that quote I would disagree. I could not imagine the current logo's merchandise ever outselling the examples below if a new logo is professionally done to mirror what regular joes have done with paint and photo shop...









Or if someone makes it into the real thing...



And here...

We are all Sabres fans no matter which logo you love.

In all of this and I never wanted to categorize people in different levels of "fandom" in this whole logo dispute nor should anyone be slapping ultimatums on each other and labeling those as bandwagoners...there are slug haters, slug lovers, indifferent fans, and those on the fence. But we are ALL Sabres fans and shouldn't be trying to undermine someone by which version of blue and gold they prefer...but more for me I take issue with the logo and it's poor representation of the team and was only trying to outline there are better alternatives both from the past and potentially in the future if fans who dislike the logo actually extend beyond a message board and do something about it.

Instead of buying slug crap, I spent my time and money and tried to inform others of a pracitical and potentially more profitable and long term solution for the Sabres. A logo that offers an updated throwback look to it, designed by a guy who loves the team. And this has been available since 2003 and somehow is still very popular to this day.

I look at the slug and see no inspiration or emotional connection when I try to imagine the donkey or donkeys who drew it up. It was just an account dropped in some design firm's lap thousands of miles away. Maybe I shouldn't have brought John Slabyk back into the limelight because now all of these people call him some egomaniac. He is a talented man who doesn't need the Sabres logo for his big break. He is very successful on his own accord and I would consider his New Blue and Gold project as his passionate shot at rebranding the team during it's transistion from Adelphia into it's current ownership because he cared and had the talent to try to bring back blue and gold to Buffalo before anyone else. No one solicited me to do this, I was motivated by the lack of insight the Sabres gave fans in this whole process, John's work no doubt, and also offended that his work or a likeness was not used by the Sabres in the update. Drew Celestino as well had over 30,000 people in collective agreement early on with his petition. And while I enjoyed every win, a 10-0 start to the season ignited everyone's amnesia about the issue. Drew stepped back and let people enjoy the season, I enjoyed the season but Larry Quinn said it was alright to yell at him if we didn't like the logo identity he slapped on the team and more or less shoved down your throats. I gave it a year and still didn't like it, I didn't get used to it, or bought it even though I hated it. And so I am yelling now. Politely and constructively.

Besides deep down, how is the managing partner of the team so truly confident in the "new" look that he is quoted last season as saying that they would wear the vintage uniform in a Stanley cup clinching game situation?

I suppose my fatal flaw is that I happen to hold a little more weight that no matter how good or bad a team plays, they have a right to look good whether they play poorly or not. What is a team to do for extra revenue from merchandise if they play like crap and look like it too?! I feel that way about all pro sports teams.

What has always bugged me about the logo is that I hear all the time how fans either hate it and feel helpless about it, don't like it but bought slug merchandise anyway, and those who naysay and offer no constructive comments to the discussion other than, "give it up" or "I hate it but it's here to stay"...only because you LET IT STAY.

Big picture...think about what that logo will mean to the team 10 years from now...look around, our own team and other teams' fans don't even call us Sabres anymore. We are only one year deep in this thing. This RBK Edge Uniform system leap of faith the NHL and RBK Executives are bridge jumping also are expecting a robust shelf life for their new love child. Remember that the Sabres uniform design and logo was the NHL's initial guinea pig for this new uniform "innovation".

The logo draws an embarassing association. We already have folks calling out for the vintage during the Winter classic at the Ralph. I totally agree. Anything with "Classic" in the title should be handled appropriately in my opinion. The current logo is a yellow Bills logo ripoff to me. Can Marshawn Lynch skate and man the crease? Can Ryan Miller run a 65 toss power trap? The current Sabres logo absolutely sucks and ruins what to me is a otherwise fantastic uniform! Whether you agree or not in my eyes does not make people any less of a Buffalo Sabres fan. And whether or not if you choose to buy the slug or vintage gear you can still support the team with or without your wallet.

Sabres Not slugs FAQ

What is the goal of Sabres Not Slugs?

It has been well over a year since the new Buffalo Sabres logo was released to the public, and on a personal level, and I remain extremely dissatisfied with the organization's decision to put this on their uniforms. I noticed that a lot of the people out there on the internet who were dissatisfied with the logo and the overall return to blue and gold in shape or another some suggestions on how we can specifically go about getting the Sabres to eliminate the logo as soon as possible. I wanted to offer additional support to Drew Celestino's FixTheLogo.com website by adding a potential direction that fans could follow in regards to getting rid of the current logo. The solution the site orginally promoted is to implement John Slabyk's logo from the new blue and gold project on the current jersey with the idea the NHL will continue to offer the vintage third uniform in 2008-2009 or use the vintage as a primary jersey and the current uniform with John Slabyk's logo as an alternate third uniform. But now as reality set in, the most realistic cost effective idea for the team is to bring a full time return to the vintage and make the current jerseys the alternate third.



Whether John's hard work can see reality or not, the goal of it is to see that slugo disappear from every jersey, t-shirt, mouse pad, pint glass, and license plate and have justice done to creating a time tested identity for the team or going back to the classic crest that was iconic and never broke to begin with. If the Sabres insist on keeping the "slug" by all means please make the vintage the primary jersey and have the "slug" as a third alternate and wear it a grand total of ZERO times for games from here to eternity.

I also was disappointed that the Sabres and RBK International never had the courtesy to respond to my letters asking for insight and answers into the Sabres logo and uniform design process, in particular, how the Sabres uniform design was influenced or restricted by RBK's now failing "Edge Uniform System."

Why do you dislike the logo?

From an aesthetic standpoint, the dark blue updated logo or the classic logo itself would most likely help the current white uniforms' clarity on television as well as in print, while the current yellow logo causes the jersey front to appear blank from a distance, due to an overuse of white space. The original logo would better contrast with the white of the away jersey, while its yellow border would have the same effect on the navy-blue jersey. It's a real head scratcher as to how this white-space effect of the current logo wasn't noticed in testing. The Washington Capitals went through multiple TV-camera tests with Comcast Sports, simply to verify how the uniform would look on television. We have no idea how (if they did at all) the Sabres tested their uniforms for television... In general, very few details and explanations have been offered by the team.

In a calculated public-relations gesture designed to placate the fans, Larry Quinn merely offered a vintage-style third jersey, paired with the non-matching, dark-blue pants of the current uniform, which was to be worn at fifteen home games. All the while, they continued to evade questions and criticism regarding the logo controversy, such as why an updated variant of the classic Sabres' crest could not be used on the uniform. Quinn has been quoted as saying that they tried to incorporate the original emblem, but vaguely concluded that they "couldn't make it "work". Larry Quinn dismissed the fans' uproar "passion." We are indeed passionate about the Sabres, but scores remain extremely embarrassed by the logo. Did it really take the Sabres and Reebok three years and over $200,000 to invent the brand identity that we see on the ice today?

Do you think that the league will review the logo situation?

There are mixed reviews regarding the league wide adaptation of the RBK Edge jersey so far. The biggest concern is that will logo tradition and integrity be maintained by the league, RBK, and individual design firms who are at the drawing board. I would say teams like Detroit, Chicago, and Montreal should be untouched and rightly so because any drastic changes and fans might set the cities on fire. Other issues are as new teams unveil is that RBK appears to have done a "template" on teams by restricting horizontal stripes in implementing vertical striping and piping of various uniforms. We may soon enough find we have legions of upset fans of what RBK and/or design firms have done to tarnish teams identities for the sake of function over form.

In regards to Buffalo, I've received no solid answers from RBK or the Sabres. I can only speculate that the Sabres design launched a year early of the league wide adaptation is a guinea pig and litmus test of RBK's functionality and styling of the Edge uniform. The logo itself could have been a victim of RBK's vision and constraints to tuck in the uniform and thus limit the logo size. That could be an acceptable explanation but no doubt that the bottom line in the approval of the logo fell on the lap of Buffalo Sabres ownership and the "managing partner" Well that has been squashed since we see classic circular logos with teams like Boston (who look fantastic!) and recently the New York Islanders. The astute folks out there can appreciate the functionality of the RBK Edge uniform for players on the ice but regular fans at a game could care less if their beer soaked jersey (that they paid either $110 or $250 for) weighed a couple ounces less because of an innovative fabric design.

Is this issue still alive, potentially, and by what mechanism can this logo still be reviewed, if at all?

I think it is still alive. But It's a tough question and answer.
Essentially why would you want to get rid of a uniform on a logo that allegedly was selling 600% higher than the previous year's "Goat head" era jersey? Again the Islanders in 1996 boasted their fish stick logo as high as number four in league sales and most fans know what happened. Remember that was for an awful team at the time with a very rich history. The "slug" was a fluke cash grab perpetuated by eager and genuinely happy fans in anticipation to return to the blue and gold, and coupled by the outstanding play of the Buffalo Sabres during the course of the season. Those huge sales figures posted make no distinction between sales of the "slug" jersey and the sales of the vintage thirds as well.

I think the only eye opening factor to initiate review is for the "slug" merchandise's sales to diminish dramatically and for fans who are concerned to get active in generating consistent feedback and correspondence with the team and media outlets. And why would fans who paid good money for their Drury and Briere and other "slug" jerseys last year want to pay a substantially higher price point AGAIN this season in consecutive years for an RBK Edge jersey that essentially will still carry the "slug" with no tangible changes? Additionally, the Sabres and all NHL teams will be without an alternate third vintage jersey until it's available in 2008-2009. So Sabres fans will have a whole year to watch only the "slug" with no hope for relief by a game with the vintage uniforms. Again that is where I see sales dropping off and an opportunity for management to re-think the logo's feasibility long term and get it right and focus on establishing or returning to a long term brand identity comparable to the Red Wings, Bruins, or Canadians. That seems to be the trend anyway in all professional sports; leaning toward modern throwbacks as primary uniforms. Knowing when not to change is a good thing. And it's a best practice of logo designers to never create something that has drawn unwanted associations with its image...creating a logo resembling a goat head or mollusk is simply a total failure in that respect.

I'm all for the Sabres generating revenue, filling the HSBC arena, and enjoying economic profit but management and ownership should have put more consideration into the blue and gold return and not mislead the fans about not delivering what I would call a complete return to the blue and gold. That means offering a vintage logo or an acceptable updated variant of the original crest as a PRIMARY uniform and identity. I think this idea would far outsell and exceed the shelf life their marketing geniuses anticipate for the "slug". I do not believe that a team who has sold over 14,000 season tickets in an 18,000 seat arena would be struggling by any means.

All I can say is look at the excellent new Boston Bruins design and wonder as a Sabres fan why couldn't have something like that be offered. I personally would purchase a Boston jersey rather than a "slug" jersey and day of the week. Who knows, the Sabres could be one awful team away from repeating the history of the New York Islanders fish stick logo and face dozens of Chiquita bananas thrown on the ice from fans both opposing and home alike.