There are some major differences, one being most those games became Esport leagues organically because the game play fit the idea of playing competitively rather than the game developer trying to simply stick it in as one to jump on the craze. Madden is actually working backward from those games. They are taking a game that wasn't built to work well competitively and trying to change it to fit. EA is banking hard that those changes will be widely accepted. They made a positive step separating modes out, but it doesn't mean the shift won't hurt your core customer base through disillusion, or perceived lack of focus.
As I pointed out before, they are lowering the barrier of entry for other football games if they remove the effects of the individual players on the outcomes of the games. If it's not about the players on the field, but the players controlling them then those users shouldn't care as much about the name on the jersey if they still have an avenue to win money. The franchise and casual gamer care about the names on jersey's because their payoff comes with the reward of "being" them or controlling their destiny. In competitive gaming the payoff is winning and who they use is not as important.
As a whole I am not sure all of these factors have been truly vetted out, this is more of where I am heading with short sighted. Has EA thought about the possibility that they may prove out the concept of competitive football as a Esport, but simultaneously show that their greatest advantage (licensing) is not needed to be a player in the market? If they lose control of the competitive football market after a heavy investment, what does that mean for the game?
I think these are interesting questions, that I am going to attempt to talk to EA about on my developer series next month.