Man City overtake Manchester United in the USA to unlock $1bn market

Sitting in the departure lounge of Columbus Airport at the end of Manchester City's summer tour, two young boys were calling their mum, having gone with their dad to watch the Blues beat Chelsea from across the USA.

The two boys couldn't contain their excitement that Erling Haaland had scored a hat-trick. They had waited to catch a glimpse of the players getting off the team coach, and got to high five a couple of players as they made their way to the locker rooms.

They would have told anybody they could, and rest assured their whole class will hear about it as soon as they get back to school. It is only one isolated example, but these are the stories that will be music to the ears of City executives.

Pep Guardiola made it plain in almost every press conference he held in the USA. City were here for brand reasons, to squeeze every commercial opportunity they could. And they'd play a few games of football as well.

Over 225,000 fans watched City over their four games and three open training sessions, with tickets ranging from $25 for training sessions at their lowest price, to hundreds for the best seats at the games. A nosebleed seat at the Yankee Stadium or Ohio Stadium would set you back $100 minimum.

The pricing felt like a problem for the working fan, but with attendances like that the ticket prices were justified in a way, and you can see why Ferran Soriano was so keen for City to come to the US again. It's worth mentioning that City were not involved in setting the prices or selling the tickets - that was the responsibility of promoters FC Series.

The underlying stats support the decision to return stateside, too. One in five Americans have an interest in soccer, shortening to one in three when there is a summer