Rugby World Cup 2015: Tournament set to be highest attended single sport event in history after football World Cup following record attendance at Wembley
This year's Rugby World Cup is on course to be the best-attended single-sport tournament in history behind the football World Cup, after a record attendance watched New Zealand beat Argentina 26 – 16 at Wembley yesterday.
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Over 89,000 packed into Wembley to watch the tournament favourites New Zealand face dark horses Argentina – the biggest crowd in competition's history.
And the tournament is now well on course to reach an overall attendance of 2.25m people – over 70m more than any previous Rugby World Cup – after a dramatic opening weekend.
The Fifa football World Cup is the only other tournament featuring one single sport, with last year's tournament in Brazil attracting a record attendance of 3.43m.
Read more: Rugby World Cup tickets most expensive but also best-selling in history
Four years ago the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand had an overall tournament attendance of 1.5m, while the 2007 tournament in France had an attendance of 2.19m.
Demand for tickets has been high, driving ticket prices to record levels. The average cost for a ticket is above £100 while an average England match costs just under £170.