The optimum time to release this game would be the beginning of a season. The problem I have with releasing them at the end of the season is you're pretty much starting with out of date squads. A release in January or February would take advantage of all the pre-season buzz and make the addition of the 9s more appealing too.
I agree that the timing is poor, coinciding with the start of the season would be best.
But there's two reasons Jan/Feb wouldn't work. The first is the lead time from when the game is "finished" to when the game is physically produced, packaged and distributed can take up to a month or so. Plus you'd have people working long hours leading up to that to have it finished which would mean working long hours around Xmas/New Year. Which is why I think it ends up being TBA for most of the year until a late season release because they're not finished.
The other reason is that no one buys games in Jan/Feb. Q4 is generally a good time but if you have the right product March/April is fine.
Anyway with the fan hub, release date is meaningless if they continue to update and support the product.