Pitt or Pittsburgh? Either Way, Its Money Down the Drain

Remember back in 1997, when then-Athletic Director Steve Pedersen decided to change the PITT name to Pittsburgh, to show the school's affiliation with the city? Well, 10 years of affiliation is obviously enough.

The school is tearing up the tile Pittsburgh floor logo (above) in order to replace it with a PITT moniker.

The old tile floor was installed for $100k (damn), and the new one will cost $25k, with an additional $50k going to updating banners to reflect the change back to PITT. That's a lot of dough.

AD Jeff Long wants to bring back the classic PITT name that never really disappeared from most Pitt fans' minds.

"It's our image. It's our brand and certainly a statement about the University of Pittsburgh and Pitt athletics," he said. "It's important in a place as highly visible as the Petersen for us to have our primary logo."

Furthermore:

"Pitt never really did leave the minds or the lips of people living within the region," he said.

And apparently, the new design will reflect the sleeker logo that everyone hates. I mean, it does look like a labrador.

And I could probably do the job for a lot less. I'm no tiling expert, but $25k to replace a $100k job? That's a lot of money just to switch a name on the floor. I was always mad when my school, St. Vincent College, dropped $50k on Zambelli fireworks for Founder's Day, all while raising tuition every year.

I know the dollars are coming out of Long's Athletic Department annual operating fund, but couldn't that money go to a better endeavor? And if the logo is getting replaced, how about going back to the plain script. Do we really need a panther (labrador) disembodied head? I think I speak for a good number of Pitt fans who would rather see the old PITT script replace any other logo.

But that's just me...