Interesting NYT article on former American Basketball Association owners Ozzie and Dan Silna, who have reaped millions from the NBA’s television deal, but want more:
For years, it was an underappreciated wrinkle in the historic deal that merged the established National Basketball Association and the upstart American Basketball Association in 1976. The owners of the Spirits of St. Louis agreed to be paid a small fraction of the N.B.A.’s television money to comfort them for being cut out of joining the older league.
….The Spirits became a distant memory, even for people in St. Louis. But the N.B.A. has continued to exist quite nicely, meaning the Silnas’ haul has been substantial: $255 million and counting. But as sweet as the deal has been, the Silnas want more, and they have gone to court to get it.
Local angle — anyone old enough surely remembers that the Spirits were the former Carolina Cougars, who split home games between Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh.
