I've been meaning to post this for a bit to provide some insight from my perspective... This is only speculation on my part but I think the reason why the confidentiality agreement keeps getting extended is because there is something very similar in the works like what happened last year with the St. John's IceCaps, Hamilton Bulldogs, and Belleville Bulls.
Last year the IceCaps were moved to Winnipeg to become the Manitoba Moose and be close to the Jets. The Montreal Canadiens bought the Hamilton Bulldogs AHL team and moved to St. John's for a 2 year stint while the Canadiens build an area for the team near Montreal. Michael Andlauer, the man who sold the team to Montreal had a 2 year lease remaining on the arena in Hamilton and bought the Belleville Bulls. As we've seen in recent years, more NHL clubs are buying their AHL affiliates, and in many (not all) cases the teams are being moved closer to the NHL clubs.
In this case, I think what is happening is that the deal with the Binghamton Sens is all but done but they are waiting on other some other moves to happen before any announcements are made. From my understanding, the AHL Sens' owner has a lease remaining on the arena in Binghamton, much like Michael Andlauer had in Hamilton. Therefore, it needs to be filled and it wouldn't surprise me if we see another AHL team moved to Binghamton like Hamilton last year.
Going back to the Sens possibly coming to Belleville, city council in Belleville have already approved spending over $7million to fix the problems with the Yardmen Arena and for renovations. An architecture firm in Ottawa has already been hired to create the designs, which the tender process was skipped by city council in order to hire this particular company. My thinking is that the Ottawa Senators picked out the firm so that the designs would be tailored to meet the Sens' needs. Otherwise, why would the city select a firm 3 hours away and skip the tender process when the Great Toronto Area is just 2 hours away?
When the Belleville Bulls were among the shuffle of teams in 2015, everything was kept secret (like what we are seeing now) until news leaked in Winnipeg that they were getting the IceCaps. Because all of the moves were tied into one another, press releases were swiftly sent out from all organizations announcing their sales and moves on the same day.
Why would Belleville be attractive to the Ottawa Senators? Location. While there isn't a huge difference in travel time between Belleville or Binghamton to Ottawa for call ups, with Belleville they eliminate time in customs. Additionally, prior to Rogers signing their huge NHL tv rights deal that Belleville was within the Senators broadcast region. This area has a large mix of Leafs, Habs, and Sens fans. In addition to fans coming to watch the AHL Sens, there are many Leafs and Habs fans who can come to see their farm teams as well.
