If the National Hockey League doesn't want him, Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie should just start his own league.

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Canadian billionaire James Balsillie speaks to reporters as he leaves the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court after a day of hearings in Phoenix, Arizona, September 10, 2009.

Photograph by : Reuters

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"I'm not going to tell him what to do, but his money would be better served if he did,'' Vanderbilt University sports economist John Vrooman said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "He could call it the Northern Hockey League or maybe the southern Ontario Hockey League.

"He could put Hamilton right at the middle of it. Winnipeg wants hockey (back) . . . they could have the Jets, the new WHA Jets or something. . . . He's smart enough that he can figure this out.''

Balsillie ended his bid to buy the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton after his offer of $242.5 million US was rejected Wednesday by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield T. Baum.

Baum also rejected the NHL, which had vehemently opposed Balsillie's bid and entered its own $140 million US bid when other suitors - Chicago sports magnate Jerry Reinsdorf and Ice Edge Holdings, a group of U.S. and Canadian investors - dropped out of the bidding process. Baum's rejection of both bids appeared to put Ice Edge back into the picture and, in Vrooman's eyes, put Balsillie, the co-chief executive officer of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, into the position of rival league maker.

"Something like this happened to (Texas oil tycoon) Lamar Hunt in 1960. He tried to get into the National Football League and they said no,'' Vrooman continued. "What Lamar Hunt did was he went across the street and started the American Football League. Within 10 years, the National Football League was forced to let all 10 teams in instead of just one, so it would have been easier initially to just let him one team in.

"This is also where the World Hockey Association came from.''

When Canadian cities such as Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg saw little hope of being considered for NHL expansion, they jumped at the chance to become inaugural WHA teams for the 1972-73 season.

"The original idea in Eastern Canada was that the guys in Western Canada can't play hockey,'' said Vrooman. "So that left Western Canada wide open and boom, you have the World Hockey Association. That's what his next economic move would be . . . because I think his future with the NHL is gone.

"If you're going to leave viable cities without teams, then those viable cities will find teams and start another league. That would be kind of his next possible move."

And the NHL's next move?

"To get in here (Phoenix) and resurrect this franchise as soon as possible and collectively I think they can do it. They have to get that thing going and in good faith negotiate with Glendale at least until the new collective bargaining agreement is established (after the 2010-11 season) and then they can look at relocating this team to Seattle, Kansas City, or maybe Las Vegas.

"I think in this case, (the NHL is) making the right decisions, particularly the way (Balsillie) tried to circumvent the bylaws and constitution."

"What Canadian fans need to understand is that the social welfare of all fans would be better off if the Coyotes were in Hamilton, Ont. It would be better off for the Leafs fans because ticket prices would be lower, there would be more hockey where people like it more . . . all the arguments they make are correct, but the purpose of the league is not to maximize everybody's welfare. The purpose of the league is to make money. And in economic theory, the major problem about a monopoly league is that it often advances its own interests at the expense of what's best for society and in this case, what's best for Canadian hockey fans.''

Vrooman admires Balsillie's business acumen, but feels he bit off a bit more than he could chew in his bid to relocate the Coyotes.

"I just think he's just a good Canadian and he loves hockey, that's just the way he it is,'' Vrooman concluded, "but I think that what he needs to realize is that the National Hockey League is a very proud and very conservative group and they're not going to be bullied and once you try to bully them and turn them against you, hell hath no fury - particularly when you're tugging on Superman's cape and in this case, Superman is Toronto, that's the gem, that's Hockey Heaven, the centre of the universe, the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees together.

"Once you start messing with them, which is what putting a team in (the Toronto region) is going to do, then you're tugging on Superman's cape and I think that's what he's done.''