[Typhoid]

The reason it worked in the 90's was that a lot of the teams [for generally every sport] were either moving cities, or new cities were getting teams. Not to mention there was no DLC then.

As for now - people want the updated rosters, and updated everything. The goal of a sports game is to give the best possible immersion into the game itself, while still being fun.

I view each sports game that's ever been released as a better version of the previous. Each one has been improved upon every single year, aside from 'just having new rosters'.

It's like "Why do they release the same cars every year?" Partly because they can because people always want whats new, and partly because they're aiming to make it better.

As for EA's NHL, there is a total revamp of the engine itself, as for new teams, and new modes. That can't be accomplished with DLC alone.

But I will point out that they do release roster updates as DLC. So the draw to buy new sports games isn't solely for new rosters.