Brothers make $300 million from NBA doing nothing

Picture getting paid millions of dollars every year to do nothing. By nothing, I mean play couch potato all day long, lay on the beach basking in the sun and sipping virgin cocktails while money is deposited into your account.

Not too many people enjoy this kind of privilege, but count brothers Ozzie and Daniel Silna among such after they closed what's considered the "greatest sports business deal of all time" with the National Basketball Association.

Dan and Ozzie Silna have earned millions from a lifelong NBA deal

Since 1976, the Silnas have earned $300 million, including $19 million last season, from a lifelong deal they struck with the NBA for a percentage of the league's TV revenue deals. The Silnas were owners of the St. Louis Spirits, one of four teams of the now defunct American Basketball Association that merged with the NBA in 1976. As part of an agreement to give up ownership of the Spirits, The Silnas negotiated a cut "in perpetuity" of the NBA's future broadcast revenue.

According to ESPN writer Chris Broussard, the deal pays the Silnas 1/7 of the TV revenue for the four ABA teams that merged with the NBA. Today, those teams are the Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. The NBA currently makes $7.4 billion from TV deals with Disney (ABC/ESPN) and TNT, making the Silna's arrangement a pretty sweet deal. Add to it Internet media revenue, which according to Fox Sports, a judge recently ruled the Silnas should have rights to, and these brothers have an unbelievable lifetime income worth hundreds of millions; doing nothing!

Ozzie Silna with a Spirits hat at his home

The NBA is currently negotiating with the Silnas after they filed a lawsuit seeking revenue from NBA TV as well as international broadcast of games.

You can read more on their story and how much other owners settled for here and here.