Ruby Richman, the former coach of Canada's national basketball team, working with the head of Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL) Harold Ballard, pursued a number of existing ABA and NBA teams to relocate to the city in the 1970s. Richman had a tentative agreement to purchase both the Miami Floridians and Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA with the plan to merge them into a single Toronto-based team, but the deal fell through. Later Richman held negotiations with the Detroit Pistons, which were seeking $5 million for the franchise, but pulled out when the price was raised to $8.25 million. MLGL attempted to purchase the Braves for $8.5 million and relocate them to Toronto in 1974, and again several times later, with Carling O'Keefe also considering purchasing the team in 1976, but the owners eventually chose to move the team to San Diego.