The common complaint about the Madden series of football games is that they're all the same game, released year after year, lazily rehashed with only some minor graphical improvements, a few token gameplay tweaks, and the main change being that EA updated the rosters to keep fans buying the newest version.
Now, a post by reddit user balloonslayer47 shows that complaint might be more than just hyperbole. The post, a gif submitted to the /r/gaming subreddit, shows that EA forgot to replace the previous year's logo in the rafters of one of the game's stadiums.
The old logo itself isn't really a problem -- no doubt it'll be patched out as soon as someone at EA gets wind of it. But it does indicate a sort of laziness that can be seen in the way that EA is doing very little new with the Madden NFL franchise.
There certainly are some differences between the the two games, with some tweaks to the franchise mode, some slight graphics improvements, and the return of the long-missing superstar mode, the gameplay on the field has stayed almost entirely the same as it was the last year and the year before. It has the same engine, it has the same controls, it has the same strategies, and it has achieved the same level of financial success.
Why the lack of change? Well, the simple answer is there's no incentive for EA to rework a franchise with such a predictably-loyal audience.
Back in 2004, EA signed an exclusivity deal with the NFL, removing competing games like Sega's NFL 2K series and Microsoft's NFL Fever games from the market. Since then, complaints have piled up saying that the series has stagnated. After all, when there's nobody else offering an NFL game, there's nobody who can make a better product to gain everyone's attention.
This doesn't make Madden 20 a bad game, it's a perfectly good game -- just like Madden 19 was a perfectly good game, and like Madden 21 will be a perfectly good game. If you're a fan who is fine with the franchise never changing things up, then go ahead and buy it.
However, if you feel like there's more that can and should be done with the NFL license, it might be time to consider voting with your wallet and waiting for things to change.