Sabres’ Golisano takes on partners
Quinn, DiPofi become minority owners
Managing Partner Larry Quinn and Chief Operating Officer Dan DiPofi have new titles in the Buffalo Sabres’ hierarchy: Minority owners.
Quinn and DiPofi, Sabres executives during the 1990s who rejoined the fold when B. Thomas Golisano purchased the team in 2003, have been granted minority stakes in the franchise, Golisano announced Wednesday.
“This announcement marks the culmination of a process that really goes back to my original acquisition of the franchise in 2003,” Golisano said in a statement. “Both Larry and Dan were instrumental with regard to my purchase of the Sabres and continue to be an important part of the organization’s success today.”
A Sabres spokesman said Golisano was unavailable for further comment, and it’s hard to gauge how significant an announcement this really is. On one hand, Golisano had been the sole owner of the franchise and is now taking on partners at a time when it seems his political interests are quickly growing.
On the other hand, the undisclosed stakes Quinn and DiPofiare getting are likely to be small ones, with Golisano still holding on to the vast majority of control.
And Quinn and DiPofiare already major players in the day-to-day operations of the franchise anyway. Both are entering the sixth seasons of their current stints.
Quinn said an ownership piece had long been in the works for both him and for DiPofiand was approved by the league’s board of governors in June as a precursor to Wednesday’s announcement.
“Tom was very good to his word on this issue,” Quinn said.
Quinn spearheaded the design and development of HSBC Arena, which opened in 1996, and then served as team president. DiPoficurrently focuses largely on business operations as they relate to the league’s collective bargaining agreement. He ascended to executive vice president with the team before leaving in 1998 following the Knox family’s sale.
With just over two weeks left before the start of training camp, Quinn said he feels confident about the Sabres bouncing back after missing the playoffs last spring.
“I feel real good right now,” he said. “Last year there were obviously issues over players not coming back, but Teppo Numminen was a significant injury. This year, we feel guys are healthy and we have essentially two new defensemen in Teppo and Craig Rivet. And [goaltender] Ryan Miller is in a position where he’s feeling secure and happy and doesn’t have the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
Quinn said the feeling throughout the franchise is that the team is “hungry, rested and positive.”
“It’s seemed like forever since we’ve played,” he said. “. . . You go late [into the playoffs] and you don’t recover your senses until July. We had 13 arbitration cases one year and tough [unrestricted free agency] issues the next year. You just never really recover starting up in September after that.”
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In other Sabres news, the team is continuing to negotiate a long-term contract extension with winger Jason Pominville.
“[Completing a deal] before training camp is what we’re working on,” agent Normand Dupont said by phone from Laval, Quebec. “That’s the goal. They’ve lost a few good players the last couple years but they’ve moved to signing guys to long-term contracts. We hope they can do that with Jason.”
“We’re definitely talking,” Quinn said. “We just want to give it the time it takes and not put any dates on it.”
Pominville, Buffalo’s second-leading scorer and a Lady Byng Trophy nominee last season, is entering the final year of his contract that will pay $1.375 million this year. He will be a restricted free agent for the 2009-10 season.
