NRL looking to hold the test in New York.
NRL considers New York option for Kangaroos' Test against Tonga
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/07/18/nrl-considers-new-york-option-for-kangaroos-test-against-tonga/
New York is a waste of time...
It'll be very expensive, there's way to much competition in NY from other forms of entertainment, and it'll get next to no penetration in the local media. If they play in NY it'll just be a mickey mouse game/publicity stunt that isn't worth the time or effort.
If the NRL are serious about taking a game against Tonga (or any PI nation for that matter) to the US, and they want it to at least have some sort of impact locally then there are only 3 options: Hawaii, somewhere in California (NOT LA though), or Salt Lake City.
Hawaii for obvious reasons, though if you want to have an impact in the larger culture it's not the best choice (not that one stand alone game is going to have any sort of long term impact anyway), Hawaii is a market we should be targeting independent of the mainland though IMO.
California has large expat Australian and PI communities, and the NRL has lots of celebrity connections that could easily be exploited there, LA should be avoided though in my opinion (for similar reasons to NY).
Salt Lake City has one of if not the largest PIs communities in the states, tons of Mormon PIs (particularly Tongan and Samoan) move there and live there, and most of them consider themselves (e.g.) Tongan first and American second (even the ones whos families migrated generations ago), if well planned and well marketed there could be a huge market for PI nations games in Salt Lake.
Anyway, just my opinions.