Meeting with Larry Quinn

[js °]

Hey all, just wanted to let everyone know that I had the oppurtunity to meet with Quinn today over at the Arena, about 3 hours before the press conference to discuss the future of the Sabres uniforms and logos.

We discussed plans to get more direct fan involvement in the logo decision, and what my role could / would be with the development of such logo and jersey options for the Sabres. No substantial conclusion was really reached between us, he did mention that he had already seen the website ( http://www.celsiusdesign.net/sabres ) previous to the meeting, and that prompted him to want to meet with me. He liked what he saw, and he liked the direction I was taking.

The next step is to basically propose my credentials and qualifications and to basically sell myself as the man for the job. I think there are alot of things weighing in my favor for this decision, (almost 4,500 people have already seen my designs and are in full support of them ( http://www.petitiononline.com/bluegold ) for one) and I walked away from the meeting confident that he wanted to work with me on this. So, in the next week or so, I'll be getting a package to him with my credentials for review and then we will see where that takes us.

I want to thank everyone for their efforts and support so far, and I also want to assure you all that I will do my best to make sure every fan gets properly represented in the process of this new logo .. and you will most assuredly have the oppurtunity to voice your opinions on the upcoming logo decision, that can be guaranteed. (god, I sound like a politician).

[sumott]

I had the oppurtunity to meet with Quinn today over to discuss the future of the Sabres uniforms and logos.

No substantial conclusion was really reached

(god, I sound like a politician).



Yes, you do sound like a politician. It makes me wonder what you have to gain by the team making a sweater change. Most people that I converse with feel that the sweaters are fine the way that they are, with the exception, that some do not like the red sweaters.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Atta boy js. :bf1:

[MissBuffalo]

Good job js!!!! :up: Bring back the tradition!!!!!!

[SkateZilla]

those jerseys look very friggin nice..
I Vote for those..

Primary - 04
Wordmark - B01
Alternate - ALt 01a

[BillsNYC]

awesome JS!! I sent your site to the 400 email addresses of NYC buffalonians on our nyc bills backers...everybody loves em!

[Michael82]

I wonder what ever happened with this. Apparently they didn't listen. :sigh:

[SabreEleven]

This is from Sabres.com message board post

hey everyone ... I'm John Slabyk ... the guy who put together the Blue & Gold Project a few years ago.

My friend gave you guys pretty accurate info up there about how everything played out for the most part. But, heres a little more info for you all to understand ....

In the meeting I had with Larry Quinn, he was well aware of my grassroots campaign, and I even discussed using this head of steam to the organizations advantage. Buffalo fans are quite different from say ... Carolina fans. Its an old organization with deep community ties .. this team BELONGS to the fans .. and a new owner should work with that ideal in order to appeal to the fans. It should be treated as though, even though Mr. Golisano supplied the money to buy the team, its more of a LEASE from the fans of buffalo, that its truly THEIR team, and he's just happy to be the guy signing the checks (I don't think this is far from how he truly viewed the situation coming in anyways). This is how I explained it to Larry, and he agreed.

I told him how using messageboards, radio interviews and more "back channels", the fans can now have a direct tie to people directly involved with their beloved team ... its a different business model. Don't sit in the ivory tower and make choices and ask your fans to deal with them, allow them to feel included. This model I wanted to take and use directly to the process of brand / identity development .. not so much that the eventual final design would not be a surprise when rolled out, but enough that the fans would feel and be included in the feedback process, as THEY are the eventual end client.

All of this went over well in the meeting, and we planned a second meeting, then I returned home and informed all those that were hungry for info that there was indeed a meeting, and the man was willing to listen. After that, the second meeting never happened and I was unable to get a hold of Mr. Quinn.

...

My friends assumption that me talking about that meeting to the fans eventually killed the deal, may be correct, but one foot might not follow the other here. It may have been that they wanted to go with a wider array of what, in their view, would be more 'established and experienced agencies' in this field. It may have been a couple of other things.

My feeling is that if this was the reason that the deal was killed, it was a mistake. And the steps taking in the creation of this new logo (if it is in fact legit .. which I am still inclined to believe this is smoke and mirrors), would show how unwillingness to listen to the fans, and truly gain an understanding of who the Sabres are as a brand can end up with a result that is completely wrong for the team.

If anyone has any questions or comments for me .. feel free to let me know through email: john@humanot.com ... I'll try and respond as quick as I can. Thanks again to all of you who complimet the work, and have supported the project from the start ... I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your feedback and spreading the word about it. Thanks so much.
<HR>

When Questioned whether he would sell his own sweaters, he gave this response:



quote:
<HR>I have had no plans, despite the tons of requests to put these into production ... I know I could sell alot of tshirts, and jerseys if these were ever produced ... but the legal questions would cause a whole lot of trouble.

I would much rather try and push this through to the Sabres ears again, and possibly meet and talk with Larry Quinn once more to learn what steps they have taken .. and where, if at all, I can be of help in all of this.

If all that doesn't truly pan out ... I wouldn't mind meeting with a lawyer to see where I stand on my rights to sell my designs for fans. I am curious if its something as simple as avoiding using the team name, and NHL emblem. There'd be alot of red tape to work through before that ever happened, and I wouldn't want to anger the Sabres head office at all through doing so.

So for now, no ... but eventually, if all channels are clear and its ok to do so ... perhaps. <HR>

[PUCKER]

Hmmm...:scratch:

[Michael82]

This is from Sabres.com message board post

hey everyone ... I'm John Slabyk ... the guy who put together the Blue & Gold Project a few years ago.

My friend gave you guys pretty accurate info up there about how everything played out for the most part. But, heres a little more info for you all to understand ....

In the meeting I had with Larry Quinn, he was well aware of my grassroots campaign, and I even discussed using this head of steam to the organizations advantage. Buffalo fans are quite different from say ... Carolina fans. Its an old organization with deep community ties .. this team BELONGS to the fans .. and a new owner should work with that ideal in order to appeal to the fans. It should be treated as though, even though Mr. Golisano supplied the money to buy the team, its more of a LEASE from the fans of buffalo, that its truly THEIR team, and he's just happy to be the guy signing the checks (I don't think this is far from how he truly viewed the situation coming in anyways). This is how I explained it to Larry, and he agreed.

I told him how using messageboards, radio interviews and more "back channels", the fans can now have a direct tie to people directly involved with their beloved team ... its a different business model. Don't sit in the ivory tower and make choices and ask your fans to deal with them, allow them to feel included. This model I wanted to take and use directly to the process of brand / identity development .. not so much that the eventual final design would not be a surprise when rolled out, but enough that the fans would feel and be included in the feedback process, as THEY are the eventual end client.

All of this went over well in the meeting, and we planned a second meeting, then I returned home and informed all those that were hungry for info that there was indeed a meeting, and the man was willing to listen. After that, the second meeting never happened and I was unable to get a hold of Mr. Quinn.

...

My friends assumption that me talking about that meeting to the fans eventually killed the deal, may be correct, but one foot might not follow the other here. It may have been that they wanted to go with a wider array of what, in their view, would be more 'established and experienced agencies' in this field. It may have been a couple of other things.

My feeling is that if this was the reason that the deal was killed, it was a mistake. And the steps taking in the creation of this new logo (if it is in fact legit .. which I am still inclined to believe this is smoke and mirrors), would show how unwillingness to listen to the fans, and truly gain an understanding of who the Sabres are as a brand can end up with a result that is completely wrong for the team.

If anyone has any questions or comments for me .. feel free to let me know through email: john@humanot.com ... I'll try and respond as quick as I can. Thanks again to all of you who complimet the work, and have supported the project from the start ... I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your feedback and spreading the word about it. Thanks so much.
<HR>

When Questioned whether he would sell his own sweaters, he gave this response:



quote:
<HR>I have had no plans, despite the tons of requests to put these into production ... I know I could sell alot of tshirts, and jerseys if these were ever produced ... but the legal questions would cause a whole lot of trouble.

I would much rather try and push this through to the Sabres ears again, and possibly meet and talk with Larry Quinn once more to learn what steps they have taken .. and where, if at all, I can be of help in all of this.

If all that doesn't truly pan out ... I wouldn't mind meeting with a lawyer to see where I stand on my rights to sell my designs for fans. I am curious if its something as simple as avoiding using the team name, and NHL emblem. There'd be alot of red tape to work through before that ever happened, and I wouldn't want to anger the Sabres head office at all through doing so.

So for now, no ... but eventually, if all channels are clear and its ok to do so ... perhaps. <HR>
Thanks man. :up: