They Negotiated the GREATEST Deal in Sports History!

How exactly did the most lopsided business deal ever happen? Find out all about it in this video!

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Silna Brothers
In 2014, the Silna brothers, Ozzie and Daniel, were earning hundreds of millions of dollars from the NBA through TV royalties paid specifically to team owners. But the Silnas don’t own an NBA team. Yet, they still earn royalties given to owners for licensing their team’s TV rights to channels like TNT and ABC. In other words, the Silna brothers were earning ridiculous amounts of money, despite contributing absolutely nothing to the function of the league. How did the NBA get stuck with this deal?

Jersey Textiles
Ozzie Silna was the older sibling, born in 1933. 11 years later, in 1944, Daniel came along, and their partnership was formed. The boys grew up in New Jersey, where their father ran a textile business. Their parents had immigrated to the State from Latvia in the 1930s, with hopes of taking advantage of the booming American industrial economy, thanks to the New Deal.

The Pistons
1974. That was the year the Detroit Pistons were up for sale, and the year the Silnas brothers tried to buy them. The Pistons were the only team up for sale at the time, so it was now or never for Ozzie and Daniel to purchase an NBA team.

The Anti-NBA
There were two dominant leagues in the 70s: the NBA, which most people know, and the ABA. The ABA, short for the American Basketball Association, had it out for the NBA. They wanted to become the dominant basketball league in America, and they made their attempt by bravely innovating the game of basketball.

The Merger
The Spirits went 35-49 in the 1975 to 76 season, which was enough to place them 6th in the ABA and make the playoffs. There, they defeated the defending champs, the New York Nets, then lost to the eventual champs of that season, the Kentucky Colonels. This would be their first and only season.

70s NBA TV
Today, millions watch NBA games on both TV and social media. It’s a big business that could be considered a small economic system all its own, between the TV networks, the franchises, and thousands of video publishers who profit from posting NBA highlights.

A New Era of Basketball
The NBA experienced a sudden influx of stars throughout the 80s and 90s. Beginning in 1979, the stars coming from the ABA helped spark a new interest in the league and it's now a much more competitive championship tournament.

Tables Turned
The NBA realized pretty quickly that the Silna brothers were a non-productive black hole sucking away money they were working hard to negotiate for. To try and close the hole, the league offered the brothers $5 million for their royalties all the way back in 1982.

A New Offer
The NBA offered the Silna brothers $500 million for the royalties they shortsightedly sold them back in ‘76. At this point in Ozzie and Daniel’s life, there wasn’t much reason to own the royalties anymore. Ozzie was 81 at the time and Daniel was approaching 71.

Today
Ozzie passed away in 2016, two years after making the half a billion dollar deal, leaving Daniel to oversee the brothers business interests. As of this video’s production, Daniel is alive and well, enjoying his cut of the buyout. Though the brothers never owned an NBA team, they did, in a way, completely own the NBA!

Видео They Negotiated the GREATEST Deal in Sports History! канала Enterprises Explained