Councillors will by flying blind going into this week’s decision on the Ottawa Stadium.

They will be asked to approve spending $5.7 million to upgrade the ball park to make it playable for a Minor League Baseball team. They only know the team would come from the double-A Eastern League and it would play at least 71 home games each year.

The team, however, is a mystery to councillors and the reasons are set out in a report about the proposed deal with Beacon Sports Capital Partners: “The governance rules of the Eastern League preclude the acknowledgement of a specific franchise and potential Major League affiliation until the relocation and designation has been approved.”

Now, although never publicly discussed, but discovered through interviews behind the scenes, we know Beacon Sports has been representing the Binghamton Mets, an Eastern League team currently affiliated with the New York Mets. In writing about the issue last week, one baseball source told me there could be other Eastern League teams eyeing Ottawa, too. It looks like the most likely, though, is Binghamton.

And councillors, unless they’ve been briefed behind closed doors, which is entirely possible, won’t know this, based strictly on the report they’re asked to approve Thursday.

The chess game south of the boarder muddies the waters a bit. The owner of the ball club in Binghamton “angrily” denied the Ottawa rumours, and the commissioner of the Eastern League told the same newspaper no team has asked to relocate.

And then there’s this affiliation matter with the Toronto Blue Jays. The National Post asked Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos about the news out of Ottawa and he said the team intends to renew its double-A affiliation with New Hampshire. Councillors who have worked closely on the stadium issue, namely Bob Monette and Rick Chiarelli, both acknowledge a Jays affiliation is the only way to make baseball work in Ottawa.

I’m guessing baseball people are more in the know than they make it sound. One thing I’ve learned covering this story over the past year is the business of baseball is a highly sensitive matter. It’s a complete no-no to discuss publicly which teams might relocate or flip Major League Baseball affiliations.

All this to say, Ottawa councillors will be making a decision on the future of the stadium without having all the information on the table. If council approves the lease, the city could be spending money on stadium upgrades before knowing for sure which team is coming to Ottawa, whether the Eastern League approves and if the Jays are willing to play ball on an affiliation.