More importantly, why not wait until you've released the patch to do a free weekend? Imagine your first experience of Mordhau as a new player being watching every server you joined empty because the majority of people didn't like the game mode / maps that appeared in the voting screen...
I believe what Marox said in the last meeting is that Valve has a set schedule for free weekends, so you have to apply to get a slot or something. We don't exactly have the luxury of choosing when to do the free weekend, so we got a weekend scheduled that was close enough.