by Matt York - AP

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Well, it turns out the league wasn't so happy with the relocation fees produced by Jim Balsillie's expert, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist. And their own experts have set the fee between eight and 17 times higher than the $11.2 to $12.9-million he came up with.

Stating that Zimbalist's methodology "does not past muster" and that "the notion that a team in Hamilton would be worth only $11.2-million to $12.9-million more than a team in Phoenix is patently absurd," the NHL produces its own two experts — Barrett Sports Group (BSG) and Sports Value Consulting (SVC) — who jack that figure way, way up.

Among the issues with Zimablist's fee?

• "Zimbalist overstates the value of the Phoenix franchise option returned to the League by overlooking the fact that relocation by the Club would substantially impair the value of that option on a going-forward basis."
• "By undervaluing the option taken in Hamilton and overvaluing the option returned in Phoenix, Prof. Zimbalist's underestimates the appropriate relocation fee owed to the League."

The NHL also argues that there should be a further indemnification fee on top of the relocation fee, again disagreeing with Zimbalist's conclusions:

Zimbalist also errs in concluding that any indemnification payment should be made out of whatever relocation fee is determined in this dispute. If the relocation fee is insufficient to offset the externalities that a Club's relocation imposes on other Member Clubs, then payment of a supplemental indemnification fee is economically appropriate and procompetitive. Failure to levy a supplemental indemnification fee would depress those Clubs' investment incentives and therefore would injure consumers.

After the jump, how the NHL's experts calculated the relocation fee and where the league pegs the value of a Hamilton franchise in relation to one in Phoenix.

Each working independently, BSG and SVC used methodologies based on the Raiders II case and "the provisions set forth in the NHL constitution and by-laws to determine an appropriate relocation fee." The analysis looked at the league's economics and current economic conditions, while also taking into consideration prior relocation payments.

Here are their conclusions:

In calculating the fair market value for a Hamilton team, they considered the size of the territory; the fan avidity of Canadian residents; the presence of competition from the Maple Leafs as well as, to a lesser degree, the Sabres (and other sports and entertainment providers); and operating and financial performance of comparable teams. This allowed the experts to estimate the likely revenues for a team in Hamilton under various assumptions. Based on those estimates and in accordance with standard valuation methods, the experts were able to extrapolate the fair market value of a team in Hamilton by applying a multiple of revenues. BSG estimated the value of a team in Hamilton as between $261.8 million and $279.8 million. SVC estimated the value of a team in Hamilton as approximately $315 million.

Aided by the actual results that the Coyotes have achieved in Glendale, the experts employed the same methodology to calculate the likely revenues for a team in Glendale and the ultimate value of a team in Glendale. BSG estimated the value of a team in Glendale as between $163.4 million and $176 million. SVC estimated the value of a team in Glendale as approximately $120 million.

To me, BSG's figures seem far more reasonable here, and they would result in a relocation fee in the $100-million range (value of Hamilton market minus value of Phoenix market). There's probably even a solid argument that the Phoenix market is worth only about the $140-million the league is bidding, which would make for a fee in the $120-million range.

On top of Balsillie's current bid, that would mean a $330-million or so purchase price, if this is indeed the road we go down. If the relocation fee is closer to the $200-million range SVC comes up with and there are additional indemnification payments due, we could be looking at $450-million plus.

The Hamilton valuations are pretty interesting. If that franchise was, indeed, worth $315-million, it would be worth more than all but the three richest teams in hockey (Leafs, Rangers, Habs). At between $261.8-million and $279.8-million, the Hamilton team would be the NHL's eighth to fifth most valuable team, among large market U.S. teams like the Flyers, Stars and Bruins and ahead of every other Canadian team aside from Toronto and Montreal.

Which, one would think, makes a pretty strong argument for having a team there.

There's a reason the NHL's put off coming up with a relocation fee for this long, as it forces them to give Balsillie a potential purchase price while also admitting the extent to which Hamilton is a valuable market. The cat's out of the bag now.

These relocation fee figures were contained in what will likely be one of the league's last filings, a thorough summation of the legal arguments against Balsillie's case and a good look at what the NHL's will put forward come the auction this week.

I'll have a look at all that likely for tomorrow.