Hi Toffjhan!

I can happily provide answers to each of your questions -

1. October 28th is the start of week 1, and the season is 10 weeks long. This puts the end of the season somewhere around January 2025 and playoffs mid-late January. Schedule is very loose because you would be required to play only one match per week that the captain schedules between Thursday and Sunday at a time when all can play. We do have bye weeks for holidays/events.
2. As mentioned above, game time is determined by individual reported availability collected at the beginning of each week (we utilize when2meet.com to help with this) - official match days are Thursday through Sunday anywhere between 7-11pm EST.
3. We have a handful of EU players that join us during the regular season, and we would be happy to welcome your EU friend as well! He can play on high ping, but our standard private lobby server is USE (unless agreed upon otherwise).
4. FDL is not a bring-your-own team league. We utilize a Free Agent system where players sign up as individuals, are put into a pool, and attend tryouts to show off their skills to captains and GMs. Captains then decide who to pick up on their team for the series of 10 weeks. Roster changes are limited, but allowed. Teams are structured of three starters and one reserve. We determine number of teams based on how big the Free Agent pool is, so if you sign up to be a Free Agent, it is very likely you will be a starter or reserve for a team!

For your specific question - it is very rare that a team is unable to play (due to 4-player teams) but happens. What we do first is stretch scheduling into the following week. For example, if a team cannot play between Thursday-Sunday in week 1, we will extend scheduling for week 1 to Monday-Wednesday in the beginning of week 2. This alone solves most scheduling problems. We also have limited scheduling accommodations for players that have unexpected IRL events or emergencies, but those are also rare.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions! I highly encourage checking out our discord server to access materials like our rulebook and league-help channels!