Yearly Sports Games Discussions -- How To Improve Them

As Madden gears up for its annual release (along with NHL, NBA 2K and NBA Live [well almost annual]), I wanted to open a discussion about these games.

A lot of people say that they are nothing but roster and graphical updates, which is true in some cases. A lot of people argue no new features are being added -- again, which is true in some cases.

The nitty gritty -- what can be done to improve these annual sports games? Do they need to stop being annual and come out every other year? Do they need to implement more ground-breaking features, and if so, what features? Do they need to do away with them and offer DLC roster updates? Where do they go from here?

I've always been curious as to what this sub thinks about those games, as EA has focused more on Ultimate Teams now than the actual game, but what do you guys think?