I've been aware of this as a topic, and confess I wasn't bothered by the speed and didn't really pay attention to the discussion until now, and although I'm having fun (bugs an' all,) the speed is definitely becoming an issue for me.
My Franchise Zoo now has 166 animals in it, all in reasonable habitats with the appropriate number of animals for each - so no stupidly large enclosures where I've lost track of numbers and things have run riot. I've got the zoo running smoothly, but I'm now basically having to play Whack-a-mole with animal management. I thought perhaps it was a purposeful game system, to push me into managing the animal population further by putting them on contraception, but this seems a bit at odds with the gene selection mechanic, putting animals on the Animal Trading Market and the Community Challenges, which all encourge you to breed animals.
I've researched 22 of the habitat animals and I'd really like a bigger zoo (obvs!) but I can't help feeling the problem will only be exacerbated by adding more. I appreciate there are the other modes, where we can now toggle things on/off and smell the roses, but surely we're being encouraged to play Franchise because it will keep the online exchange of animals healthy, but for me, Franchise is just starting to feel a bit frantic, number-crunchy, and possibly un-fun. Just. I'm still enjoying myself.
I like all the restrictions we have to butt up against, like the facilities etc, a game needs to have some problems to solve, but I want to enjoy managing my zoo in progress, not on permanent pause because I can't watch it happening without 5 billion things being born/stressed/escaped/fighting/dying every 10 seconds. I want to watch my elephants swimming for a bit.
So yes, TLDR, I'd like a decrease in the game speed as well.
Edit: It occurs to me that the issue is made worse by the current UI bugs where you can't filter animals etc. This is adding to the time/awkwardness of dealing with animal problems in the zoo.
Edit 2: btw, I think I'm playing the game well - at risk of sounding like a 'flex' I have just under $7million and 350000CC, and 7k guests - I know how to run my zoo. But I really don't think Franchise mode was designed as simply an Economy game.