I doubt the council were the major player in all this.
The council retains the freehold, but it is (or was) let to the Bulls on a very long lease for a peppercorn rent (tantamount to freehold). All running costs at Bulls expense, so the council had neither obligations nor income from the site. Odsal therefore pretty well worthless to the council while the Bulls remain in being and in situ; and likewise to any prospective buyer. So why sell the freehold?
If, as I suspect, what has actually happened is that the Bulls have sold the long lease to the RFL, in exchange for a shorter, "market terms" lease with the RFL that may or may not have been front-loaded in Bulls favour, then the council's position is unchanged. Especially if, as I suspect, that agreement has conditions that the Bulls must play there or the lease reverts to the council.
Note also that the Council has now taken out a charge over the Bulls assets - or, more particularly, over their interests in the new "underlease" - so their position may if anything be stronger than before?
I'm sure the good burghers of Keighley will find that this latest transaction is a scandal and a huge waste of council tax payers money, even so. Be very disappointed in you if you do not!
I'd be more interested in knowing if this transaction instead happened for the reason I suspect it did.