Nothing in that interview leads me to believe that "making franchise mode into what it needs to be" is going to result into anything that the dedicated franchise sim players want. I think most of this is just
PR, to calm down the forums and to help spur more Madden purchases, particularly once the XB1X drops. I think we've all had different moments when we realized that franchise just wasn't a good mode anymore.
For me, it was long enough ago that I don't care anymore. I find the gameplay fun and enjoy other modes. Can't say I wouldn't enjoy a good franchise mode more, but then, I don't think the franchise modes on modern consoles have been worth the time. Even the very best has enough issues I'm not interested.
But sports games have made one mode I appreciate the most anyway, and no, it's not MUT. Play Now modes that import data and commentary to the game makes that mode feel as immersive as a sim. But Play Now with current rosters, lineups, stats and commentary is fantastic.
What MUT did was save online play, which had become stale and boring. Building your own team and taking on others is much more fun than latching on to whatever team you end up with in generic vs modes.
Everyone lamenting the loss of franchise is pretty much right. It's gone. But that doesn't make the other modes not fun. And it doesn't make EA evil for going with the flow. There are a lot of actors that go into it, but EA would spend more time building and promoting a franchise mode if they believed it would lead to enough sales to pay for itself and add to the bottom line.