ABA Owners For Life

Nets: Years later, ABA still pays off handsomely for two Sunday, June 01, 2003BY DAVE D'ALESSANDRO Star-Ledger Staff SAN ANTONIO -- Dan and Ozzie Silna are two guys from Jersey who are paidmillions of dollars each year by the Nets, and they are not employed by theteam in any way.

Actually, they make millions of dollars each year off the Spurs, too, but theyown no interest in any franchise, have no affiliation with the NBA whatsoever,and haven't even been in the basketball business since 1976. But the Silnas have something that most NBA owners lack: astonishing foresight.

And that has led to a $100 million windfall that dates back to the year theNets, Spurs and two other teams were absorbed by the NBA. The Silnas were the owners of the Spirits of St. Louis, the legendary group ofmismatched miscreants that helped give the American Basketball Association itsrenegade reputation. When the league folded in 1976, the NBA had room for onlyfour of the six ABA teams.

The owners of the Nets, Spurs, Pacers and Nuggetspersuaded Kentucky Colonels owner John Brown and the Silnas to fold their teamsin exchange for compensation. Brown accepted a single $3.3 million payment from his fellow owners. The Silnasheld out for more. They signed a deal that paid $2.2 million -- plusone-seventh of the combined annual television revenue from the four teams.

The fine print? The deal had no expiration date, so the Silnas are entitled tothat TV money in perpetuity. In other words, they'll continue to be paid ...forever. "These were two very smart guys, terrific owners, and they were very involvedwith the team," said Nets president Rod Thorn, who was the Spirits' last coachin 1975-76. "The deal they made speaks for itself: I don't think anyone knewwhat the NBA would become as a TV entity.

So I don't think anyone thought muchabout what kind of money that would amount to over time." Roy Boe, the Nets owner at the time, still refers to it as "one of the mostincredible deals in the history of the business world -- rivaling any deal thathas taken place in Wall Street in the past 25 years. These guys collect thatkind of money from the NBA, and all they have to do is sit there."

The Silnas are often criticized for refusing to accept a lump-sum buyout --would anyone? -- but it is hard to question their business acumen. Born in NewJersey, the brothers took over their father's successful embroidery company andwent into the basketball business in 1974, when they purchased the CarolinaCougars for $1 million and moved the franchise to St. Louis. They invested in players such as Marvin Barnes, Don Chaney and an 18-year-oldMoses Malone, with the hopes of being absorbed by the NBA.

The two years were "a disaster, business-wise," said Ozzie Silna, still in theembroidery business and a civic leader in Malibu, Calif. "The St. Louis Bluesowner promised us 5,000 season tickets, and we only had 600 people sign up." With one of the highest payrolls in the league, the Spirits went 67-101 in twoyears. By the middle the 1975-76 season, the league was down to seven teams,and the Silnas just tried to hang on -- if not to live out their dream ofowning an NBA team, then to receive compensation from the others, as mandatedby ABA bylaws. After an all-night meeting in Hyannis, Mass., a deal was struck on the morningof June 17, 1976. It took a while to grasp its magnitude. The Silnas would make "only" $8 million throughout the 1980s, but as the NBAgrew and broadcast rights fees exploded, so did their bank accounts.

Theyreceived checks annually totaling approximately $4.6 million between 1990 and1994. It climbed to $5.6 million per year until 1998. The deal with NBC andTurner of 1998-2002 was worth $2.6 billion, which netted the Silnas $12.4million annually. And in the current $4.6 billion deal with ABC /ESPN and AOL Time Warner, theystand to make an estimated $24 million every season over the six years of thecontract. In other words, the Silna brothers will make more money than the vast majorityof NBA teams every year -- without expenses, overhead or headaches.

Of course,had they kept their franchise, it probably would have appreciated to more thanthe $100 million they have made since 1976. "I love basketball, and I wish we could have been involved in the merger," saidDan Silna, an industrialist who still lives in Saddle River, up in BergenCounty. "But I don't regret our deal