Honestly,Universe Mode is a mode I hardly ever play with,it just seems like you're putting a lot of time and work in for a bare minimal outcome.
Like you said,they need a season mode that people actually want to play. The last time they had a good season mode was in SVR08 where you started out in Heat and you worked your way up to becoming a legend.
If they redid that type of season mode but replaced Heat with NXT,made it a lot less repetitive,and, gave us more choices along the way then it would shape up to be a great game mode with some replay value.