Privatization is not good news for the Dominican Professional Baseball League. For years, the government has subsidized the league, absorbing the cost of lighting up the baseball stadiums for the four-month (October-February) tournament. But now that the distribution and collection of electricity has been privatized, the baseball clubs will have to negotiate directly with the new companies. The Aguilas Cibaeñas and Gigantes de San Francisco will have to sit down with Edenorte; the Estrellas Orientales (and the Azucareros del Este, once their stadium is repaired) will have to talk to AES Distribuidora del Este; and the Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido will have to talk to Edesur. Meanwhile, to make matters worse, the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos, the local tax bureau, announced that it will be collecting taxes from the professional baseball players salaries. Baseball player wages had been exempt in the past, as part of the government policy to subsidize the event which was given a kind of quasi-public service treatment.
