Last 3 NFS games sucked bigtime, Criterion hasn't made a decent game since 2008, they are apparently co-developing this with Ghost? Don't see how anyone can get excited about this.
Criterion is the franchise management team now for Need For Speed, so they will be involved with all NFS going forward. That said, they're not developing the game, and if they're smart (I haven't heard impressions of Rivals but it sounded less arcadey than MW,) they'll let these other developers do what they do best and allow the variety that NFS is known for come through the various editions. People gave NFS a lot of guff in its prime because there was a new one every year ("Goddamn, enough with the Need for Speed, who buys all those?!?), and partly that was a fair slam because some games were rushed, but mostly I felt it was unfair because there were some great NFSs in that timeframe and they constantly kept changing the formula (if you liked sims better than arcade racers, just wait a year...) Criterion has had to rebuild the franchise since taking it over and the dissolution of EA Black Box, and they have so far done it the way they already know how (with more Burnout-type games and a remake of Hot Pursuit,) but ideally they'll be broadening out the brand now that there's a second team in place.
Also, EA Ghost was founded by ex-DICE guys, some of whom (although not the main guy) must have been around during the RalliSport days. People think DICE=Battlefield, but it used to be an eclectic team. Plus, DICE sending little seedlings of itself out in the world to make use of its Frostbite engine is hopefully a good thing, if that main crew is going to be wrapped around do Battlefield and Battlefront then let the guys who specialize in other types of games make their mark elsewhere when they're ready.