Just one month after the cancellation of the Serie del Cibao, which would have brought three LIDOM regular season games between the Aguilas Cibaenas and Gigantes del Cibao to New York’s Citi Field Nov. 7-9, the promoter of the event has sued the teams, the league, and the player’s union.
In a complaint filed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Latin Events LLC, an Irvington, New York-based company, sued LIDOM, the Aguilas Cibaenas and Gigantes del Cibao baseball teams, and FENAPEPRO, the labor union representing players in LIDOM, for US$775,000 plus interest over the series’ cancellation, Dominican newspaper DiarioLibre reported Monday.
DiarioLibre’s report cites a court document filed on Nov. 21 and obtained by the paper that stated Águilas Cibaeñas BBC was paid $275,000 in two installments of $137,500 on Sept. 12 and Oct. 16. Payments of $87,500 each were made on the same dates to Skanuss Consulting, the company that owns and operates the Gigantes, and to LIDOM. A single payment of $150,000 was made to FENAPEPRO on Oct. 7, DiarioLibre reported.
The document, equivalent to a civil complaint in a U.S. court, explains Latin Events LLC’s reasoning for cancelling the Serie del Cibao, citing “unforeseeable events beyond our control,” the threat of enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the RD vs. DR Showdown All-Star Game between Puerto Rico’s LBPRC and LIDOM, which was organized by FENAPEPRO and played at Citi Field Nov. 15.
Latin Events argued in the document that the RD vs. DR Showdown was a competing event that “violates the principle of good faith” and that “the inflexible refusal of the defendants to renegotiate the contract constituted an act of bad faith“, DiarioLibre reported.
“They filed a lawsuit to terminate the contract based on alleged unforeseen circumstances, which is not the case here. Meanwhile , Lidom and the teams are filing a lawsuit to terminate the contract due to Latin Events‘ breach of its substantial contractual obligations, among other reasons, for unilaterally canceling the series. The contract is clear on how the money received will be handled. The courts will have the final say on this matter,” LIDOM President Vitelio Mejia told DiarioLibre, before saying that any further comment would come from the league’s lawyers in court.
Latin Events LLC previously promoted the Titanes del Caribe series, where the Tigres del Licey and Aguilas Cibaenas played a three-game exhibition set at Citi Field in November 2023, as well as a single exhibition game at Citi Field between the two teams in November 2024. Another two games planned for New York’s Yankee Stadium in 2024 were cancelled, ostensibly due to the cost of leasing the facility for two games as well as the ability of the venue to prepare for the event, which would have been less than a week after the stadium’s main tenant, the New York Yankees, completed playing in the World Series.
Photo: New York’s Citi Field was scheduled to host a three-game set between LIDOM’s Aguilas Cibaenas and Gigantes del Cibao. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
