Well, I am a 2k fan as well as a Madden fan, and franchise is still the most important thing to me.
One advantage with 2K's franchise (2k5) is that you could edit both the rosters AND the league. So I was able to recreate some past seasons with both the rosters AND something close to the old divisions. I, being a niner fan, was even able to recreate nearly identical schedules for the 49ers for given past seasons (1994, 1996, 1997, etc... this... took some effort on my part... yeah, lame... but it shows how great the option was!).
So I think franchise is important regardless. Until all pro 2k8 came out without a franchise, I am willing to bet that the "only" 2k fans were pretty serious about it too... but with all pro not having a franchise, the apologists had to modify how they felt or how they
claimed they felt to keep in line with their argument that 2k was the best.. just MHO, of course...