Could adaptations assist smaller countries?
Listen to Todd Clever's view of USA's state of rugby from the 24th minute!
With the likes of American Football, Ice Hockey and Baseball being able to generate massive interest and extremely high revenues, getting just 10 percent of those incomes will make the sport of rugby grow tenfold.
But what makes those sports cash cows is the fact that they are of a stop-start nature, which allows for numerous sponsors and corporates to get on board and punt their brands.
"In American Football, basketball, baseball, it is a stop-start game so people are watching all these commercials and that is why money is coming in. All the popular American sports are stop-go and they can out in a major production together which brings in major bucks of sponsors and corporates but rugby is not like that," Clever said.
One change which Clever would suggest to World Rugby is changing the structure of the game to quarters as opposed to halves, in order to appeal to the American market.
"If I were to change things, I would suggest doing four quarters. Let's put in three 30-second commercials.
"If you look at how much it costs for a commercial during the Super Bowl, look at all that revenue. So when you are flipping through the channels, there is a drinking game on TV," he added.
The interest in the game has certainly grown since the return of the shorter format to the Olympic Games in 2016 and has since seen the new Major League Rugby competition signing a broadcast deal.
"Sevens is more professional, they are taken care of better than the XVs guys. Once the Sevens was back in the Olympics, that was a game changer. Not just for Sevens but for rugby in general. It's just a sport that people are falling in love with.
"The new Major League Rugby's first season is starting in April and we had over 9000 people at one of the pre-season games in Salt Lake City. In Houston, there's been 5000-plus at these pre-season games. It is really exciting being part of it.
"MLR just signed a deal with a major broadcaster, which is massive – and the season hasn't started yet," he stated.
Never miss an episode of Late Tackle, subscribe here on iTunes.
*Late Tackle promotes responsible drinking. Alcohol is not for sale to anyone under the age of 18.
*Late Tackle is driven home safely by 1 For the Road
@RugbyPass
