Deputy Mayor Doctoroff kind of makes one suspect that, as he was trying to ingratiate himself with the International Olympic Committee two weeks ago, he felt frustrated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s decision to open the site of the proposed West Side stadium to a competitive bidding process. But most New Yorkers – and especially the stone-broke MTA, which owns the site – have already seen the benefits of bidding.

Earlier this week, the president of the Jets, Jay Cross, announced that his organization would raise significantly its $100 million offer for the development rights to the West Side site. In an interview with WCBS’s “Kirtzman & Co.,” Mr. Cross said the Jets would present “a competitive bid” before the MTA’s deadline of March 21.

“We’ve always said that we’ll pay what the market value is,” Mr. Cross said. Well, maybe. But it wasn’t too long ago that a Jets appraiser was insisting that the “market value” was a mere $36.9 million. Some critics pointed out that the team couldn’t legitimately deduct the $300 million cost of building a platform over the Hudson rail yards from its appraisal when the state and city had already agreed to pay the bill. So the Jets begrudgingly upped their offer to $100 million – a sum, the team insisted, that exceeded the market price.

The MTA, after appraising the site, asked for $330 million. The Jets agreed to come to some compromise through a binding arbitration process led by Senator George Mitchell. Well, not exactly binding: “We will do everything possible to pay whatever amount of money that he sets; we hope it won’t be so high as to kill the project,” Mr. Cross said at a City Council hearing last month. “If it’s a reasonable number, then we will abide by his number.”

Last month, $300 million seemed like a stretch. But after one rival $600 million bid from Cablevision, it’s become a base figure. “People are not bidding $600 million,” Mr. Cross insisted on Sunday. “Cablevision is really bidding about $300 million, so actually we’re all in about the same range.” If the Jets are now “in about the same range” of $300 million, that’s progress.

The football team’s new, higher bid calls into question the judgment of Mayor Bloomberg and those in his administration who opposed a competitive bidding process for the West Side site. Even if the Jets win the development rights to the Hudson rail yards, an outcome which remains likely, the team will do so by paying perhaps $200 million more than it offered initially – in other words, by paying closer to a market price, one much closer to the appraised value of the site.

It’s true that the bidding process on the West Side isn’t exactly a level playing field. As these columns have noted, the zoning restrictions on the rail yards depress the property’s value. Developers who would otherwise be interested in the site are reluctant to offer proposals under its current zoning. But there’s no doubt that, compared to Mr. Bloomberg’s initial back-room deal with the Jets, the competitive bidding process is better – $200 million better.

More broadly, the whole experience throws into sharp relief the fact that normally when the state or the city raises an extra $200 million it involves tax increases or painful spending cuts. But presto-change-o, opening something up to the market and promoting competition turn out to be not such a bad way to economize. $200 million more, without a tax hike. Wouldn’t it be nice were the city to try it more often – by, for example, privatizing, contracting out city services, forcing city contractors to compete for its business.