• Them out of yearly payments to the brothers
• Professional basketball would return

• They agreed to a $500 million lump sum
• The teams absorbed into the NBA

St. Louis MO

48 min Walk

1.86 mi East of WUSTL

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Studio $500

Professional basketball would return briefly to the Arena in 1974 with the St. Louis Spirits of the ABA playing two seasons there. In just those two season, the Spirits established a colourful reputation with players such as Moses Malone, Maurice Lucas and Marvin Barnes. The teams radio announcer, Bob Costas, working at his first professional radio job. In 1976, the ABA collapsed and the Spirits were not among the teams absorbed into the NBA. The teams owners, Ozzie and Daniel Silna, refused to take the NBAs offer of several million dollars up front to dissolve the team. They instead negotiated a share of the future media earnings of the ABA teams that were merged into the NBA. That deal is often called the greatest deal in sports. Up until 2014, the brothers were still getting payments of $14.57 million a year on average. That year, the NBA finally negotiated a deal that would get them out of yearly payments to the brothers. They agreed to a $500 million lump sum payment. The team was the subject of a 30 for 30 documentary called Free Spirits produced by ESPN in 2013.

Updated: 17 Jan 2018