Hitting the "real" Lottery

Here is something I have been hearing about lately. Really unbelievable.

NBA Still Trying to End Crazy TV Deal With Former ABA Team Owners


If you’re not familiar with the wildly lucrative TV deal Ozzie and Daniel Silna, owners of the ABA franchise known as the Spirits of St. Louis, struck with the NBA in 1976, you should bone up on the insane tale. The League is once again trying to wiggle itself out of the deal. Per ESPN: “When the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, the Silnas agreed to dissolve their team in exchange for a small percentage of the NBA’s future broadcast revenue. At the time, it seemed like an irrelevant concession by the league. But it’s become a financial windfall for the Silnas. They receive 1/7 of the television revenues of the four ABA teams that were absorbed: the Spurs, Nuggets, Nets and Pacers. The NBA currently has $7.4 billion in TV contracts with ABC/ESPN and TNT. The kicker in the Silnas’ deal is that it goes on in perpetuity. Last season, the Silnas, who bought the Carolina Cougars for $1 million in 1973 before moving the club to St. Louis, received a reported $19 million from the NBA. Since the deal was reached in 1976, the league has paid the Silnas $300 million in TV royalties. Recently, a judge ruled that the brothers also have rights to Internet revenue. Because the Silnas’ cut diminishes the dividends of the NBA’s 30 team owners, the league has long sought to settle the contract.

I believe the deal was finally cut, with the Silnas brothers getting $500M.


bob


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Yep they got out of it !!

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/01/09/nba-settles-perpetuity-deal-with-former-owners-of-aba-spirits/

bobheckler wrote:I believe the deal was finally cut, with the Silnas brothers getting $500M.


bob


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I think the Silnas brothers should go and buy an NBA team with the $500m.
:-)

First of all, Tardust, it's great to hear from you. I hope all is well with you and yours.

Some people just seem to be in the right place at the right time, huh? I've always had a grudge against the ABA because I believe their relatively brief existence created an almost goldrush-like fervor, whereby the natural and appropriate evolution in players' rights was catapulted into a runaway feeding frenzy of players, agents, owners, and league executives that has never ceased. To say nothing of the three-pointed, star-struck erosion of what rapidly became the basketball "product."

Compared with tragedies that befall so many in this world, the fate of pro basketball ranks pretty low on overall scheme of things. But to those who have cared about the game for what seems like forever and through thick and thin, it means working a lot harder to find ways to enjoy the sport. And for that, the ABA can claim much of the blame. And those who are newer to the game but love it just as much as the old-timers deserve a lot better.

Sam