I can confirm this issue is still happening.
The Franchise start date has been stuck since early December. EA Support has confirmed to me multiple times that this is a server-side issue and not account-specific.
I contacted EA Support again today requesting a case number or escalation. The agent acknowledged the issue, stated it was reported to the game team, refused to provide a case number, and then ended the chat after I explicitly requested escalation or tracking confirmation.
This issue was also publicly acknowledged by the Madden team weeks ago, but that acknowledgment was later removed without a follow-up update.
Adding my report here so it is documented as another affected player. Screenshots are available if needed.