Completely agree. Honestly, I would drop a couple of hundred dollars on an APF2K8 "reskin" with current and legend players. Already (begrudgingly) do it on NBA2K...with a football game, especially as one as ahead of its time as APF was, absolute no brainer.
Speculation time...I do think there was something with the rumor VC had all sorts of issues with APF's source code. I don't know if it was making it arcade enough or upgrading it to current gens, but it makes no sense not to use it.