After defeating 63 other jersey submissions and surviving a month of voting, we finally have a winner in our Buffalo Sabres third jersey contest. Congratulations Arron Anastasia, your design has been crowned champion in our third jersey bracket!
The winner: Designed by Arron Anastasia
Throughout the month of voting, I think we learned a few interesting things about what the Sabres organization might want to consider when it comes to designing their new alternate sweater, whenever that may be.
– People are split on using yellow as the primary color. Some people love the butterknife look, and the yellow would pop nicely on the ice, but just as many fans want to keep the royal blue of the 40th anniversary jerseys as opposed to the navy blue that has become the team’s primary color.
– Our vocal voters also were split on the idea of using the old goathead logo. Some people love the nostalgia and Stanley Cup history it offers, while other want it to stay buried in the ’90’s as we focus on crossed swords or City of Buffalo branding.
– Consistency is important in any new design. The jersey submissions that were consistent in color scheme, piping, and logos almost always fared better than those that looked more thrown together. We saw this play out with the team’s most recent jersey, which looked like a mish-mosh of logo and color ideas that nobody had the courage or foresight to redesign.
– Crazy ideas can gain some traction as long as they look good. Two of the designs that went far in this tournament were the White-Out and the Steampunk/Pirate ideas. Crazy looks, but with just enough uniqueness and professionalism in the designs that they made some headway with voters. The Sabres most recent third is an example of a crazy idea (two-toned) that did not look good and did not have many fans.
Not that we’re closing this tournament, I wanted to thank everyone who submitted a jersey, and all who voted. Ryan, Chris and I are going to try and figure out a way to submit the final four designs to the Sabres as an example of what types of ideas the community responded to, and as an example of how creative and passionate Sabres fans can be.
Congratulations again to Arron, and thanks for voting!
Thanks again to Ryan Wolfe of Sabres Hockey Central and Chris Ostrander of Two In The Box for their help with organizing this campaign. Check out their work at the links above and follow them on Twitter @wolfeshc and @2ITB_Buffalo.