Spirits of St. Louis

The Spirits of St. Louis were an American basketball franchise from St. Louis, Missouri, and one of two teams that at the end of the American Basketball Association ( ABA) still existed, but did not survive the unification of ABA and NBA. They were members of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974-75 and 1975-76, and contributed their home games in the St. Louis Arena from.

History

The Spirits, the name of Charles Lindbergh's airplane, with which he crossed the Atlantic, was taken, were the third version of a franchise that was known as the Houston Mavericks and Carolina Cougars before. Regardless of their history, they were an expansion team, even though they were a remnant of the Cougars.

It was a mixed bunch and included many players on both sides of the square, which were quite successful in their basketball careers. Among them was Moses Malone, who was acquired during the second season was. He had then a long and successful career in the NBA, which culminated in the Naismith Memorial Basketball inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Maurice Lucas spent most of the ABA in the Spirits and later became an All-Star in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers. Next -known players were former sixth man of the Boston Celtics Don Chaney, who later became head coach of the Boston Celtics ML Carr and Ron Boone, who for a long time held the record for most games in a row. One of the largest birds of paradise was the Forward Marvin " Bad News " Barnes, who was famous for his behavior off the field and his lack of understanding of time zones.

A few personalities of the team who did not play himself, also gained notoriety. One of the coaches in 1975 was the former NBA player Rod Thorn, the vice president of basketball affairs in the NBA was for many years ( the number two behind Commissioner David Stern, or, in simpler terms, ). As a radio announcer for the team functioned Bob Costas. Costas had followed a very successful career at NBC, both on television and on the radio.

Seasons

After a slow start in their debut season in 1974-75 Spirits reached the playoffs after a final spurt and could annoy the defending champion New York Nets in the first round of the playoffs. But the team could not continue the good start of the following year and missed the playoffs by far, so that eventually dwindled, the number of spectators in St. Louis. At the end of the season we negotiated, the team to Salt Lake City, Utah, to resettle and continue playing there under the name Utah Rockies.

The end

In the summer of 1976, when the ABA was before the financial collapse after nine years, began the six surviving franchises ( the Virginia Squires went straight after last season bankrupt ), to negotiate with the NBA on the merger. But it was decided to include only four teams from the competing league: New York Nets ( the last master of the ABA), Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs.

The NBA soothed John Y. Brown, the owner of the Kentucky Colonels, by paying him $ 3.3 million as compensation, so that it dissolves the team. Brown took a lot of money later to buy the Boston Celtics. But the owner of the Spirits, the brothers Ozzie and Dan Silna, negotiated a prescient contract from which continuously granted them the future television money from the teams that the NBA joined, namely one-seventh of each team. Since the television contracts were increasingly lucrative, the Silnas were characterized wealthy. They were given according to a report in the Los Angeles Times $ 168 million until July 2006. The NBA could buy almost Silnas out under the contract in 1982, when they offered them $ 5 million for 8 years. However, the negotiations came to a standstill when the twins demanded $ 8 million for 5 years. The current contract guarantees the Silnas $ 14.57 million per season. In June 2007, he was extended for a further eight years, meaning at least another $ 100 million for the previous owners of the Spirits.