Quote ="gutterfax"International Union was on FTA in the USA.......they got 800,000 watching the RWC Final Live. Perspective wise, 17,000+ attended the recent USA V Italy game in the states......485 watched the tomahawks beat jamaica to qualify for the RLWC 2013.......both sports are minor playersin the US of A'"
800,000 out of a population of 260,000,000. Wow.
The USA have been playing RU internationals for the past twenty years at least and been in several RUWCs. RL is in it's infancy. That is not a fair comparison.
if you want to be impressed over 30,000 watched Russia play the US in Moscow a few years ago.
NRL and SL are now on Fox sports extra in the US, as is RU. Now they have an opportunity to watch both versions of the game, we shall see which one the American public prefers.