We’ve got bad news for Pitt students still holding out hope that the athletics department… We’ve got bad news for Pitt students still holding out hope that the athletics department would nix its new secondary logo design: They’re not. The athletics department’s decision to shell out approximately $75,000 to update the Petersen Events Center and other locations with the “PITT” block logo and the new panther head secondary logo suggests that Pitt’s new athletic image is here to stay.

The largest portion of this project, which is set to begin this summer, will be a renovation of the Pete’s lobby floor, which currently greets visitors with the old “Pittsburgh” logo and panther head.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pitt athletics department now plans to tear up the existing floor tile and replace the entranceway with the block “PITT” logo in an attempt to remain consistent with its new image. This image change is not cheap, however. The floor update will cost about $25,000 and comes only five years after $100,000 was spent constructing the original floor. Another $50,000 will go into incorporating the logos into new banners and signs.

While these modifications are expensive, Pitt has made the right decision to keep its athletic facilities consistent with its new image. Despite the negative backlash surrounding the new panther head – angry fans have compared the new logo to a slew of barnyard and aquatic animals – Pitt has chosen to stick with this design and incorporate the image in the University’s athletic headquarters. It is important that it remains consistent. The “PITT” block logo, which replaced the former “Pittsburgh” logo in 2005, has received mostly positive feedback from fans, and the “Pittsburgh” design in the Pete’s entranceway does conflict with the image that fans have become familiar with.

Critics of the renovation plan will probably note that a majority of the money will go toward updating the Pete, home to Pitt’s basketball teams, but because Pitt’s athletics department manages its own finances, it is its prerogative to promote its most profitable product – which has recently become both our men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Our men’s basketball program is competing with some of the most competitive and well-funded basketball programs around the country, and it is important that our basketball facility remains state of the art, which includes keeping the logos displayed in the facility consistent with the logos featured on merchandise. In other words, if the Pete is the crown jewel of Pitt athletics, we had better keep it polished.

We do hope, however, that the athletic department is careful and cautious with its design for the new lobby floor, making sure to be conservative enough in its decisions to avoid spending another $25,000 in five or 10 years – because, while the renovations are a great expense, they are also a great inconvenience for Pitt students, faculty and staff.