"- How many different "teams" (AI opponents) are there in the league, and do they control three gladiators like you? Are there any team bonuses you can choose?"
Hi David, thanks for your interest!
There are no specific "Teams" in the game; the other warriors are controlled by a conglomerate of all of the other clans. The other warriors in the league are your opponents.
Team bonuses come in the form of spells or "enchantments" you can buy that Last for awhile. They only affect your team.
"- Is there a leadership table made up of teams and you play a round robin series followed by finals, or do you "sign up" your gladiators into a competition comprised of a tree structure (like tennis)?"
You play randomly against the other 9 warriors in the league through 40 battles (or days) of the season, and then the structure becomes a "tree" structure, single-elimination, for the playoffs.
"Also, I'm wondering about how long gladiators live. For the potential rating to be worthwhile and for players to connect with their gladiators' persona, I would guess that not all battles end with the loser being killed. If this is the case, how does the game decide whether a gladiator is killed off in a battle?"
Gladiator deaths rarely occur (in the newest build of the game), but like any sport like this, deaths do rarely happen. The balance of that i've been tweaking carefully. As far as deciding, there is a carefully written formula that decides if a warrior gets killed or not, combination of luck, stat calculations and combat progression (whether a warrior gets hit really hard early in a fight). But you're right, unless it's done balanced and carefully, then you would never have a chance to develop any of your warriors (not to mention if warriors get killed, you owe 50% of their remaining contract amount - seasons left X per season salary - to their families, so it hurts the wallet a little too
).
I certainly hope you consider pre-ordering and getting in on the fun!