NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A $4 billion bid to buy all the teams of the National Hockey League would group franchises into three different tiers to determine the payout for their current owners, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the bid would pay $2.25 billion for the 10 most valuable teams, while the next 10 would split $1 billion and the 10 least valuable would split $750 million.

The offer from Bain Capital LLC and Game Plan LLC is still seen as a longshot, but the latest offer has garnered support from about a third of team owners, according to the report.

A number of smaller sports leagues, including Major League Soccer and the Women's National Basketball Association have common ownership of all teams, which limits competition for high-priced stars. It is not at all clear that the National Hockey League Players Association would agree to common ownership in their ongoing labor negotiations with the league.

The 2004-'05 NHL season was cancelled due to a lockout of players by owners, who are looking for a salary cap to limit team payrolls.

NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur declined to comment to the newspaper.

A valuation of NHL franchises in 2004 by Forbes shows that the most expensive team, the New York Rangers, is worth $282 million, while the least valuable is the Carolina Hurricanes, worth an estimated $100 million.

The total for the 30 teams was $4.9 billion, according to the estimates from the magazine, a leading tracker of team values. But those valuations came before the lockout and any drop in value that the loss of a full season may have caused.

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