373:, agreed to pay the St. Louis owners $ 2.2 million (equivalent to $ 11.8 million in 2023) in cash up front and an additional 1/7 share of each of the four remaining teams' television broadcast revenue "for as long as the NBA or its successors continues in its existence" in return for the Spirits folding. This was based on the principle that all seven remaining ABA franchise should get an equal share in the TV revenue of the merged teams. Thus the Silnas would receive checks from the NBA on a yearly basis, representing a 4/7 share of the television money that would normally go to each NBA franchise, or roughly two percent of the entire league's TV money — as compared to the roughly three and a third percent received by each active franchise. Additionally, the Silnas inserted a clause in the contract stipulating that their share could not drop below the amount generated from a 28-team league. With the NBA expanding to 30 teams, each of the former ABA teams was required to pay the Silnas a 1/196 share (1/7 of 1/28) of total league TV revenue, instead of 1/210 (1/7 of 1/30), giving the Silnas a 1/49 share. The contract defined broadcast revenue very broadly, which their attorney during the merger negotiations,
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year; from 2003-2006 their take was at least $ 15.6 million per year. By 2010–11 they were receiving $ 17.45 million annually. In 2014, the deal was costing each former ABA team $ 5 million a year. The Silna brothers had received roughly $ 300 million in revenue as of 2014, despite the fact that the
Spirits never played an NBA game nor dealt with the costs of fielding a team. They credit their terrific deal to planning they had done ahead of the merger for the Virginia Squires owners; the Silnas had expected the Spirits and Colonels to enter the NBA but for the ailing Squires to be left out, and the Silnas thought up the television revenue deal as a way to treat the Squires' owners fairly if the Squires did not join the NBA with the other ABA teams. However, the deal cut by the Silna brothers and the incredible amount of revenue it has produced over the years has itself become legend.
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former ABA teams would get majority stake in the
Spirits of St. Louis Basketball Club, L.P., which will retain control of a portion of the TV revenue streams of the former ABA teams, with the option to purchase the remaining stake held by the Silnas in the future. Also, the Silnas will drop their litigation against the league seeking a share of additional media revenue streams, with the NBA agreeing to grant some of the disputed funds to the Spirits. The settlement was completed in April 2014.
377:, pointed out "could not be evaded or made obsolete". The Silnas brothers wanted to join the NBA and had originally hoped to parlay the deal into an NBA franchise of their own; instead, the NBA moved forward with paying the brothers (45% each) and their partner/lawyer, Schupak (10%), the annual amounts.
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also went to the Kansas City Kings, for $ 15,000. The folding of the
Spirits dissolved a very talented basketball team, one that likely would have competed successfully in the NBA. Twelve players from the final two Spirits of St. Louis rosters (1974–76) played in the NBA during the 1976–77 season and
416:
In
January 2014, a conditional settlement agreement between the NBA, the former ABA clubs and the Silnas was announced. As part of the deal, the Silnas were reported to be receiving a $ 500 million (equivalent to $ 644 million in 2023) upfront payment from the former ABA teams. In return, the
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was arranged. This followed an attempted merger of the
Spirits and the Utah Stars franchise during the 1975–76 season, a merger that, had it occurred, contemplated the team leaving St. Louis for Utah. But the Stars folded before the merger could occur and instead, the Spirits bought the rights to
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cable networks; league television revenue soared into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Thanks to the deal, the Silnas made millions through the 1980s and at least $ 4.4 million per year through the 1990s. From 1999 through 2002 the deal netted the
Spirits' owners at least $ 12.53 million per
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from the NBA in 2012 and planning to rename the team, there had been talk that the NBA might negotiate a deal to end the TV deals for the Silna brothers in exchange for rights to the
Spirits name. This ended up not happening, as the Hornets were renamed the Pelicans.
351:
While the Silna brothers were left out of the NBA, they nonetheless managed to turn it into one of the greatest deals in the history of professional sports. Of the seven teams that finished the final ABA season, the NBA would only accept 4 in the merger. The
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folded shortly after the season. The
Colonels negotiated a $ 3.3 million (equivalent to $ 17.7 million in 2023) buyout from the remaining ABA teams. However, the Spirits held out for more and in June 1976, the owners of the four merging ABA teams, the
211:, because it was then the largest city in the United States without a professional basketball team and they thought this would make their team more likely to join the NBA. In 1974, the Cougars, roster and all, were overhauled and became the ABA's
243:. In another effort to be included in the ABA-NBA merger, the Silna brothers proposed selling the Spirits to a Utah group, buying the Kentucky Colonels franchise, and moving the Colonels to Buffalo to replace the
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The first year the deal yielded revenue for the Silnas, in 1980–81, of a modest $ 521,749. However, as the NBA's popularity exploded in 1980s and 1990s, the league's television rights were sold to
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The
Spirits' 1975–76 season was not a success either on the court or in attendance. In May 1976, due to attendance problems in St. Louis, the Spirits announced that they were going to move to
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There have been numerous attempts by the NBA and the former ABA clubs to buy out the deal. It was reported that a $ 6 million settlement was under consideration in the 1980s. With
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1121:"No Team, No Ticket Sales, but Plenty of Cash; Former A.B.A. Owners Ozzie and Daniel Silna Earn Millions From N.B.A."
964:"No Team, No Ticket Sales, but Plenty of Cash: Former A.B.A. Owners Ozzie and Daniel Silna Earn Millions From N.B.A."
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from 1974 through 1976. The 1974–75 Spirits had upset the reigning ABA champion New York Nets in the
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658:"Enterprising Brothers Converted NBA Buyout Of ABA Team Into Multimillion-Dollar Windfall"
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best known for their success in the textile industry, as well as being co-owners of the
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1053:"Former ABA Teams, NBA & Spirits Of St. Louis Announce Conditional Settlement"
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Brothers Ozzie and Daniel Silna made a fortune as pioneers in the manufacture of
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franchise with the expectation of moving it into the NBA with the impending
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Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the
American Basketball Association
454:"Ozzie Silna, Savvy A.B.A Owner Who Got Rich Off the N.B.A., Dies at 83"
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872:"Deal may extricate Pacers from costly TV-rights deal from ABA days"
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758:"Deal of a Lifetime: Brothers Dunk Huge NBA Dollars Without Team"
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726:"Winds shift in Chicago again with Bulls' decision to deal Deng"
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some of the Stars' best players, including future Hall of Famer
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29:
835:"Best sports deal ever? How the Silnas outsmarted the NBA"
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On April 26, 2016, Ozzie died of cancer at the age of 83.
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and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as
141:
and the lucrative deal cut to fold that team during the
936:"Payout May Come for an A.B.A. Team That Is Long Gone"
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The Silnas lost the money that they had invested with
685:"NBA Edition: Silna Family "Fortune" And The Draft"
497:"Revisiting 'The Greatest Sports Deal Of All Time'"
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472:PON - Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
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1167:"Spirit of ABA deal lives on for Silna brothers"
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1078:"Silna Settles Longtime NBA Dispute for $ 500M"
787:"Silna Settles Longtime NBA Dispute for $ 500M"
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468:"When Negotiation Mistakes Compound over Time"
8:
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49:, which are uninformative and vulnerable to
899:"ABA TV settlement approaching $ 1 billion"
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183:Jewish immigrants who came to the U.S. via
160:fell short, the Silnas purchased the ABA's
64:and maintains a consistent citation style.
1198:American Basketball Association executives
527:, Simon & Schuster, pp. 349–351,
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121:(December 27, 1932 – April 26, 2016) and
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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207:The Silna brothers moved the Cougars to
1000:"Entities reach conditional settlement"
962:Sandomir, Richard (September 6, 2012).
614:January 1, 1970, at remembertheaba.com
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219:before losing to the eventual champion
254:The Spirits were not included in the
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452:Sandomir, Richard (April 28, 2016).
247:, who were then planning to move to
1165:Rovell, Darren (January 22, 2007),
56:Please consider converting them to
1208:American people of Latvian descent
156:team. After an attempt to buy the
25:
870:Schoettle, Anthony (2014-01-14).
152:. In 1974, they wanted to own an
933:Sandomir, Richard (2014-01-07).
785:Adkisson, Knowles (2014-04-16).
683:Rovell, Darren (June 28, 2007).
34:
1203:Spirits of St. Louis executives
1139:Burke, Monte (April 18, 2011).
897:Buckner, Candace (2014-01-28).
730:National Basketball Association
234:when a lease agreement for the
179:The Silna brothers are sons of
135:American Basketball Association
724:Aldridge, David (2014-01-13).
60:to ensure the article remains
1:
877:Indianapolis Business Journal
656:Pells, Eddie (May 27, 2006),
1055:. 2014-01-07. Archived from
1027:Mandell, Nina (2014-01-17).
833:Wertheim, Jon (2014-04-09).
616:(Error: unknown archive URL)
582:Pluto. - pp.372-390,427,429.
217:1975 Eastern Division Finals
129:are American businessmen of
756:Briggs, Bill (2014-02-17).
1224:
663:Seattle Post-Intelligencer
421:Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme
166:merger of the two leagues
456:– via NYTimes.com.
203:The Spirits of St. Louis
191:. After graduating from
1183:, DailySpeculations.com
609:. - RememberTheABA.com.
564:. - RememberTheABA.com.
125:(born August 26, 1944)
1180:A Deal I Wish I'd Done
1177:Grossman, Dan (2003),
272:Portland Trail Blazers
1141:"From Hoops To Oops?"
904:The Indianapolis Star
523:Pluto, Terry (1990),
1096:"THE BEST DEAL EVER"
811:Pluto. - pp.428-433.
701:Pluto. - pp.431-433.
635:Pluto. - pp.388-389.
594:Pluto. - pp.386-387.
573:Pluto. - pp.387-388.
562:Spirits of St. Louis
228:Salt Lake City, Utah
213:Spirits of St. Louis
139:Spirits of St. Louis
27:American businessmen
1119:Sandomir, Richard.
410:New Orleans Hornets
209:St. Louis, Missouri
1126:The New York Times
1100:Sports Illustrated
968:The New York Times
839:Sports Illustrated
402:New Orleans Saints
249:Hollywood, Florida
197:Fordham Law School
845:on April 12, 2014
534:978-1-4165-4061-8
371:San Antonio Spurs
290:for $ 50,000 and
280:Kansas City Kings
230:, to play as the
221:Kentucky Colonels
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474:. 2021-11-15
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232:Utah Rockies
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317:Steve Green
236:Salt Palace
18:Ozzie Silna
1192:Categories
1106:2020-04-19
1063:2014-05-17
1038:2014-05-17
948:2014-05-16
910:2014-05-17
883:2014-05-17
849:2014-05-17
798:2014-05-17
735:2014-05-17
506:2022-04-23
478:2022-04-23
437:References
406:Tom Benson
337:M. L. Carr
333:Don Chaney
321:Gus Gerard
189:New Jersey
62:verifiable
1033:USA Today
384:and then
329:Don Adams
301:Ron Boone
292:Mike Barr
276:Ron Boone
185:Palestine
150:polyester
47:bare URLs
1171:ESPN.com
762:NBC News
612:Archived
369:and the
295:beyond:
193:Columbia
51:link rot
1009:May 16,
767:May 17,
195:, then
181:Latvian
1152:May 1,
1146:Forbes
531:
501:Forbes
404:owner
123:Daniel
71:reFill
127:Silna
119:Ozzie
45:uses
1154:2014
1011:2014
1004:ESPN
769:2014
529:ISBN
392:and
347:Deal
339:and
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390:TNT
386:NBC
382:CBS
154:NBA
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