A lot of people are only passingly interested in video games. For people that just want to sit down and play something having to learn about the game and how it's played is work, not entertainment. I can see how someone who only games maybe once a week could have some real fun playing a sports game. It's very easy to pick up because they already know the rules. I don't agree personally, for me games are the most fun when I'm interacting with a new mechanic, but I am also willing to grind for hours optimizing and learning to push the game to its limits. If you don't have the time for all that, but you still want to game, sports games are a perfect entry point. Not even I can come up with a justification for the pricing though.