Well, the threatened lawsuit against Pitt for its new donation/seating policy at the Pete is happening.

Prior to the opening of the Petersen Events Center in 2002, Pitt created and promoted a season ticket plan that promised in writing that season ticket holders would be able to keep their same seats every year if they maintained or increased their contributions to the Athletic Department’s fundraising program “Team Pittsburgh,” which is now called “The Panther Club.” Last month, Pitt announced a new plan that reassigns non-Club season ticket seats every year based on a number of factors, including the size of contributions to the Athletic Department’s new fundraising drive.

They have a website for this. You can download a copy of the complaint and exhibits (PDF).

I haven’t had time to read the just filed lawsuit, so I don’t yet have an opinion of the merits. From the press release and the previous story on this, I am suspicious. There is an awful lot of reliance on a brochure encouraging people to get season tickets to form the contract claim.

I’m not a big fan of the approach Pitt has taken in this scheme for increasing “donations,” and I think they overestimate the actual level of interest in acquiring season tickets. So, what may be the result is that Pitt drops the reseating strategy. We’ll see.