Ozzie Silna dies; made vast fortune on NBA deal

1:16 AM ET

Multimillionaire Ozzie Silna, one of the architects of arguably the best sports deal ever negotiated 40 years ago during his co-ownership of a struggling American Basketball Association team, has died. He was 83.

His family said he passed away on Tuesday in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.

Silna and his brother, Dan, were the former owners of an old ABA franchise known as the Spirits of St. Louis. When the ABA merged with the NBA after the 1975-76 season, 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 became a legendary coup and financial windfall for the Silnas. They negotiated to receive one-seventh of a share of the annual television revenues for as long as the NBA was around for the four of six remaining ABA teams that were absorbed: the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs. The Spirits and Kentucky Colonels were not accepted into the league.

Colonels owner John Y. Brown received a $3 million payoff from the remaining ABA teams.

The brothers weren’t willing to …

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