Stadium: Schlitz Stadium (55,000)
Opened: 2005
Cost: $357,750,000
Roof: None
Surface: Natural
Team Colors: Red, Black, and Blue
Owner: Chico's Bail Bonds
President/GM: Kevin Karpuk & Randal Graves
Ring of Honor: none
Franchise Record: 57-75-2 (.432)
Home Record: 12-21 (.364) (Schlitz Stadium only)
League Championships: 1 (1993)
Division Championships: 1
Franchise Championships: 0
Playoff Appearances: 4
Balance: $255,131,693
@ New England L 284-237
NEW YORK L 337-239
@ Baltimore L 234-230
@ Chicago W 306-268
INDIANAPOLIS L 323-221
PITTSBURGH L 232-208
@ Northampton L 227-206
BALTIMORE L 297-270
NEW ENGLAND W 203-200
@ New York T 316-316
@ Pittsburgh W 271-257
@ Indianapolis L 342-274
NORTHAMPTON L 261-258
CHICAGO W 288-212
The Predators are one of the original CFFL teams, having began play in 1990 as the Cardinals. With first-round draft pick Dan Marino, and a host of good running backs, the Cardinals looked to be in good shape, but finished 4th in a five-team league.
Things would only get worse for the team, who renamed themselves the Flyers during the offseason. After leaving Marino unprotected, they drafted him again in the first round, then traded him to the Dolphins in October. The team finished in 5th place in the points standings, ahead of only the expansion Dolphins, but did put together a 7-7 record in head-to-head play, only to be upset by the Dolphins in the wild-card game.
1992 saw a marked improvement for the team, who were now named the Surge. While they still finished 269 points out of first place, they did finish 2nd in an 8-team league. With QB Jim Kelly throwing to WR Jerry Rice, Haywood Jeffries, and Ernest Givins, the Surge displayed an explosive passing game. They went 7-6-1 in head-to-head play, but lost again at home in the first round, this time to the Steelers.
There were big changes and reason to celebrate in 1993. The team once again underwent a name change, this time to the Predators. They also merged operations with the Heat, a 1992 expansion team, which led to a controversial arrangement of the Predators hiding players on the Heat's roster and trading for them when needed. Whether this practice was a factor or not, the team did win the 1993 CFFL Championship, adding RB Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas to their passing attack. They edged out the second-place Gators by 33 points and the third-place Tigers by 49 points. The team went 11-3, winning the CFFL North by a half-game over the Tigers, but again failed to advance out of the first round.
Owner Kevin Karpuk kept the Predators name for the 1994 season, but they couldn't repeat the success they had in 1993. The Predators dropped to third place, 144 points out. They went 9-5 in head-to-head play, losing the CFFL South title to the Gators on a tie-breaker, but once again lost their first playoff game. The team struggled early in 1995, in second place when the league shut down, but they were 101 points out. They were 2-6.
The franchise was reborn as the Las Vegas Crappers when the league restarted in 2005. With disappointing seasons by players such as Michael Vick and Willis McGahee, the team struggled all season and finished 7-9.
The team finished 5-11 in 2006, tied for last place with Kansas City, but only a half game out of a wild-card spot in the weak Baugh Division, but the team hit rock bottom in 2007. During the offseason, Vick was sent to prison for dogfighting, and the team went into a tailspin from which the didn't recover, finishing 2-14, the worst record in CFFL history.
In July 2008, the CFFL announced that they were taking over day-to-day operations of the team, and announced at the CFFL Draft on August 24, 2008, that the team would once again be called the Predators. The team struggled during the first half of the season, starting 1-7, but started to come around after that, going 3-2-1 in their last 6 games and going 1-1 in the Draft Pick NIT.
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