Beyond the Arc

Some tidbits on the ABA:

* LET’S MAKE A DEAL: The Spirits of St. Louis owners Ozzie and Danny Silna and Don Schupak received about $2.2 million to not join the NBA, but more important, they receive a one-seventh share of the television money from the four ABA teams that merged in perpetuity. So they are still receiving four-sevenths of the annual television share. They received about $8 million in the 1980s for that contract and about $4.4 million a year starting in 1990. They got no money in the first three years of the merger because the ABA teams were not given television money as part of the deal.

* THE KNICKS ALWAYS BEAT THE ABA . . . : To get into the NBA, the New York Nets were forced to pay this year’s Eastern Conference champion, the New York Knicks, a $4.8 million indemnification fee for playing in the Knicks’ territory. The cost was so great that the Nets decided to dismantle the team, sell Julius Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million and move to New Jersey.

* BUT THEY BEAT THEMSELVES: Julius Erving was offered to the Knicks for a cash settlement in exchange for dropping the indemnity fees ($480,000 for 10 years). They declined.

* THE DRAFT WAS FIXED: The Chicago Bulls were given the first pick in the ABA dispersal draft so they could draft Artis Gilmore, who was a dominant center for the Kentucky Colonels.

* YO QUIERO LOS OTROS: The Kentucky Colonels were owned by John Y. Brown, who was the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Colonels had great talent and good financial backing but poor attendance. So instead of paying $3.2 million to get into the NBA as the other teams did, Brown took $3 million to fold his franchise.

* THE BEST QUOTE: Marvin Barnes of St. Louis once refused to get on a flight that was scheduled to leave Louisville, Ky., at 8 a.m. and land in St. Louis at 7:59 a.m.: “I ain’t going on no time machine.”

* CHECK, PLEASE: Singer Pat Boone owned the Oakland Oaks and gave his business manager a blank check for expenses. He had to go on tour to cover the check when it went to the bank with seven digits on it.