04/19/24
September 07, 2012
The Best Deal Ever Is Not Good Enough: We discussed the Silna brothers six years ago, but there's a new wrinkle in the saga of the biggest money giveaway in sports history. Ozzie and Daniel Silna, owners of the ABA's St. Louis Spirits, negotiated a deal when the NBA absorbed four other ABA teams in 1976 -- one-seventh of TV revenues from those four ABA teams, forever. This has made them somewhere between $240 and $300 million, but they're suing for a chunk of international broadcasts and the NBA TV network, ideas no one had thought of 36 years ago.
posted by Etrigan to basketball at 09:57 PM - 2 comments
Little did they ever imagine ... absolutely shrewd.
I see this as "television is television," no matter where. Using the NBA's argument, the Silnas never should have received revenues from cable television broadcasts since the only telecasts were over-the-air at the time ... they should get the extra money.
posted by jjzucal at 08:56 PM on September 08, 2012
I love this deal. They made $17.5 million in profit last year, which is around half the average profit of an NBA franchise.