Last week, we posted a link on Facebook to what used to be the Orlando Predators website: orlandopredators.com. The site redirected not to the arena-football team's page, though, but to the FDLE's Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators database. We were a little baffled (as was Deadspin, which reported on the change in the URL's direction on July 16). Did the Predators, who were recently sold to King of Versailles David Siegel, let their hosting agreement expire? Did the FDLE buy orlandopredators.com? Is somebody just trying to send a subtle hint that "Orlando Predators" is kind of a creepy name for a sports team?
None of the above, it turns out. According to Courthouse News Service, a lawsuit over the site has been filed in a Chicago court by Arena Football One, the league the Predators used to belong to before they were kicked out earlier this year. It claims that the team's disgruntled former owner is holding the site hostage and redirecting it to the state's sex-offenders list. It says that the Orlando Predators were ousted from the league for failing to fulfill team obligations, and their owner, David Pearsall, was supposed to turn over administrative access to the site over to the league. Instead, it says, he changed all of the passwords and redirected it, thus "disparaging the Orlando Predators trademark."
The team has a new site now, since they can't seem to get their old one back. It's myorlandopredators.com.
