The most challenging thing a sports simulation game must try to do is create a model as close as possible to traditional sports. That is a challenge no other esport genre has. There is no traditional sport basis for how a first-person shooter or multi-player online battle arena should look in real life, so those games are simply taken at face value.
Of all the sports simulation games, FIFA may be the one that best resembles its real life counterpart. And while soccer may not be the most popular sport in America, FIFA is often the sports game of choice.