As part of his scheme to bring the Olympic plague to NYC, Nurse Bloomberg has been agitating to build a football stadium on Manhattan’s West Side. The economics of such stadiums are sufficiently dubious (there’s a case to be made that they displace as much economic activity as they bring) that they should never – ever – be supported by taxpayer dates, but New York’s stadium skeptics have another winning argument on their side. The Nurse has said that building the stadium is an essential precondition of a successful Olympics bid.

No stadium, no Olympics.

I can think of no better reason for opposing the stadium.

Now there’s another. Cablevision (the owner of, um, Madison Square Garden) has offered to pay the Metropolitan Transportation Authority far more than the stadium crowd have suggested. The MTA needs the money. Badly. Not to accept the offer would be a disgrace.

Take the bread, MTA, forget the circuses.</p