SALEM, OR - Madden 27 officially launches tomorrow, but Season 36 of the 2K OLF will not begin immediately. As we have done in previous years, the league will wait for the official Week 1 roster update before starting the new season.


There are always roster changes, transactions, ratings adjustments and other updates between launch and Week 1, so waiting gives us the best possible starting point for Season 36. While using a custom updated roster would normally be another option, players are currently reporting that edited roster files are not reliably saving in Madden 27, making that an unreliable alternative for now.

A 2K OLF Test League Is Coming

This year, however, we’re going to do something a little different while we wait. Shortly after launch, we plan to create a temporary 2K OLF test league. This will not be the official Season 36 franchise, and everything that happens inside it will eventually be deleted.

The test league will allow us to sync Madden 27 with the 2K OLF website so updated rosters, schedules, standings, player information and other Madden 27 data can begin appearing on the site instead of everyone having to wait for the official season to begin.

More importantly, it gives everyone a sandbox to learn the new game and help us test Franchise. Play games, make trades, sign and release players, change your depth chart, experiment with Franchise features and try things you normally wouldn’t risk doing during the season. Nothing that happens in this franchise is permanent.

If something looks wrong, let us know. This is exactly what the test league is for.

Franchise Issues We’re Watching

Several Franchise issues are already being reported during early access, and some could have a significant impact on an online league.

One of the biggest concerns involves Wear & Tear. EA has officially acknowledged that Wear & Tear is having a stronger impact than intended in Franchise, including problems with how CPU teams manage affected players. EA says it is investigating the issue and currently recommends adjusting the Wear & Tear settings or temporarily disabling the feature if necessary.

Meanwhile, players are reporting potentially serious problems involving contracts and salary-cap penalties. Reports include incorrect contracts, unusually large cap penalties and long-term salary-cap problems that could make normal roster management difficult or even impossible for some teams.

Unlike the Wear & Tear problem, we have not yet seen EA officially confirm the reported contract and cap issues. We’ll therefore use the test franchise to investigate them ourselves and determine whether they could affect the way we operate Season 36.

Other community reports involve simulation statistics, CPU roster management, free agency, created and edited players, custom roster files and other Franchise systems. Some may prove to be isolated issues while others could require patches from EA, which is why we’re not going to assume every report is accurate until we’ve tested it.

Help Us Break It Before Season 36

The purpose of this franchise isn’t to build your team or worry about wins and losses. We want to find problems now rather than after Season 36 begins. If there’s something you’ve heard is broken, try it. If something strange happens during a game or while managing your team, report it so we can investigate and determine whether others can reproduce it.

We’ll also use the test period to make sure Madden 27 is communicating properly with the 2K OLF website. We’ll be checking rosters, schedules, standings, statistics, transactions, player data and the other systems that rely on information synced from the franchise.

As EA releases updates and fixes, the temporary league will also give us a place to test those changes without risking an official season.

When Does Season 36 Begin?

Season 36 will officially begin after EA releases the Week 1 roster update. By then, we’ll also have had time to evaluate Madden 27’s Franchise mode, identify potential problems, test workarounds where necessary and allow EA time to address issues discovered around launch.

Once we’re ready to move forward, the temporary franchise and its test data will be removed. We’ll create the real Season 36 franchise using the updated rosters, perform a fresh sync with the 2K OLF website and officially begin the new season.

Until then, enjoy Madden 27, experiment with the test league and report anything weird you find. The more we discover during this testing period, the better prepared we’ll be when the games actually count.

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