Dallas-Mavs.com Forums - View Single Post - ABA, Post-merger windfall

David · 06-11-2003, 03:17 PM

ABA owners did not distinguish themselves as sports businessmen, although many of them had been successful in other endeavors. The league was plagued by financial instability during its nine seasons, so it probably is fitting that the greatest deal made in ABA history – and probably the history of sports – was accidental.

In 1975-76, the ABA started the season with nine teams, but two quickly folded. By this time, the ABA had an extraordinary collection of talent, and there was a push for a merger with the NBA. If successful, ABA executives thought the NBA would take only six teams.

Ozzie and Dan Silna owned the Spirits of St. Louis and with attorney Donald Schupak worked out compensation for the team that would not join the NBA. In an interview with ESPN.com two years ago, Ozzie Silna said that he proposed that "the seventh team should receive a share of television money in perpetuity."

Silna's intent was fairness because he said he "had no intention of being that seventh team. I had put so much into the players that I thought that Virginia was definitely going to be the team that would be excluded."

As it turned out, the NBA accepted four teams. Virginia had folded after the season and Kentucky owners accepted a cash buyout. The Spirits were not invited to join the NBA, but they had the TV agreement.

That means that since the ABA folded in 1976, the Nets, Spurs, Pacers and Nuggets have paid a one-seventh share of their TV money every year to the Silnas and Schupak, who, by the end of the NBA's current six-year deal, will have collected almost $200 million. For doing nothing except being brilliant ex-ABA businessmen.

06-11-2003, 03:17 PM	#1
David Golden Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 1,864	ABA, Post-merger windfall ABA owners did not distinguish themselves as sports businessmen, although many of them had been successful in other endeavors. The league was plagued by financial instability during its nine seasons, so it probably is fitting that the greatest deal made in ABA history – and probably the history of sports – was accidental. In 1975-76, the ABA started the season with nine teams, but two quickly folded. By this time, the ABA had an extraordinary collection of talent, and there was a push for a merger with the NBA. If successful, ABA executives thought the NBA would take only six teams. Ozzie and Dan Silna owned the Spirits of St. Louis and with attorney Donald Schupak worked out compensation for the team that would not join the NBA. In an interview with ESPN.com two years ago, Ozzie Silna said that he proposed that "the seventh team should receive a share of television money in perpetuity." Silna's intent was fairness because he said he "had no intention of being that seventh team. I had put so much into the players that I thought that Virginia was definitely going to be the team that would be excluded." As it turned out, the NBA accepted four teams. Virginia had folded after the season and Kentucky owners accepted a cash buyout. The Spirits were not invited to join the NBA, but they had the TV agreement. That means that since the ABA folded in 1976, the Nets, Spurs, Pacers and Nuggets have paid a one-seventh share of their TV money every year to the Silnas and Schupak, who, by the end of the NBA's current six-year deal, will have collected almost $200 million. For doing nothing except being brilliant ex-ABA businessmen.