When you currently click on Nets.com, you're redirected to this eBay page – featuring an old photo of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban – selling the domain name for $10,200.
NBA fans started noticing the redirect over the weekend, and BuzzFeed became aware via Emma Span of Sports Illustrated.
Who could benefit from a .COM domain name as exclusive and as premium as nets.com? Just a few thoughts...Perhaps you are a tech start-up with a need for a fantastic domain name to get you off the ground?Are you one of the major players on the planet in the routing and/or networking equipment business?Maybe you are the proprietor of the world's preeminent manufacturer of tennis court nets? Fishnets? Volleyball nets? Goalpost nets? Do you have a great idea for the next big social networking site and need a great domain name to bring it all together?Or, maybe you just happen to have a basketball team of the same name?Whatever the case may be, this is your opportunity to become the proud new owner of a rare gem of a domain name... A genuinely premium one.nets.comGood luck.
The Nets have never owned Nets.com. Since 1994, the domain has been registered to a computer systems firm in New Mexico. In 2012, Forbes reported the company would be willing to part with the domain for $5 million. The Nets ignored the request.
Since 2012, Deadspin has kept tabs on the goings-on of Nets.com.
Things got really weird earlier in 2014, when the domain actually redirected to sites promoting other teams – specifically the team's opponents. The Heat, Raptors, and Knicks all had their turn getting traffic from misguided Nets fans.
For some time in late 2012, Nets.com redirected to a Jay Z fansite (at the time, he was known as Jay-Z with the hyphen).
A couple months prior to the Jay Z feature, Nets.com redirected to a janky looking page that outright mocked the Nets for not owning the domain. It featured a photo of Mark Cuban, which incorrectly fueled rumors that Cuban had bought the website to battle Prokhorov in the strangest of ways. Cuban's mug was planted presumably to motivate Prokhorov and his team to buy the domain at a high price. It didn't work but the attempt is referenced today in the eBay page for the domain.