As others have noted, Amazon’s recent announcement that it will build a second national headquarters in North America has touched off what is likely to be the feeding frenzy of the century.

Specifically, the Amazon announcement projects as many as 50,000 new jobs with average compensation exceeding $100,000 per year in the new site.  Since Amazon is only seeking bids from metro areas with more than one million people, that has basically narrowed the list of potential candidates to 20.

Amazon’s RFP notes that a “highly educated labor pool is critical” and that the site must be able to attract and retain “technical talent.”  A second set of factors involves land and transportation access, specifically whether a city has a physical site that can accommodate up to eight million square feet of development, provides public transportation and has an airport with direct flights to major U.S. cities and international destinations.

Amazon has also indicated it wants a high quality of life and a cultural community fit. Tax incentives and other public subsidies will also play a key role to be sure.

Based on these criteria, Philadelphia checks all the boxes and probably already has a seat at the table.  Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted on Thursday that Philly would be a “PRIME location for Amazon…” and that he “looked forward to submitting a proposal.” The Philly tech and business community is standing tall with Kenney.  Make no mistake:  For Philly, landing Amazon HQ2 represents a transformational opportunity.

That being said, before communities like Philly go all in, they should step back and think about who will ultimately win. As Brookings’  Metropolitan Policy Program Senior Project Manager Richard Shearer noted in a blog post yesterday, “Amazon has set the table in a way that ensures that just about every community that plays this game will lose, and not just because all but one place will come away without the grand prize.”

As Shearer observed, Amazon has become the world’s largest online retailer through ruthless cunning. As is often the case with corporate expansions and relocations like this one, there’s a very good chance Amazon already knows exactly where it would like to its HQ2, Shearer wrote, which would mean its RFPs is a way of inviting the site it has already chosen to foot the bill for Amazon’s new digs.

The website Good Jobs First has noted that since 2000, Amazon has obtained almost $1.2 billion in public subsidies for fulfillment and sortation centers.

Shearer said Amazon is probably also looking for business-friendly environs “where it will hold sway. Of course, costs of doing business isn’t the only factor that matters, or maybe even the biggest factor. It probably wants a navigable public sector, meaning a highly business-centric environment, attractive cost structure, accessible state and municipal leaders who will always take Amazon’s calls–a place where the company will be a very big fish, if not the biggest.

This probably rules out several of the country’s largest metro areas or those that are politically fragmented. I’m guessing Amazon may also like a location in a state where its presence could bend the political winds to its liking at the right moments.

When you think about it in this context, the case for Philadelphia as home to Amazon HQ2 becomes a lot more problematic.