When the governing elite want something, it might be delayed by unified opposition, but grass-roots movements are always burdened by divided energies. Opposing the resources of the Minnesota Twins, Hennepin County commissioners and state legislators with legacies on the line are individuals who also have day jobs and nightly worries other than turf versus sod.

The stadium war was not won on the battlefield of ideas and policy; it was a successful siege. Government always wins in a war of attrition. It is inevitable.

Craig has now officially joined the dismal scientists. The late Mancur Olson would have nodded his head at this application of the logic of collective action. Simple application: Just because you have more voices and more votes doesn't mean you get your preferred outcome.