Qualcomm has made a big push in recent years to market its Snapdragon suite of semiconductor products, and sports has been a primary avenue in that effort through deals with big properties like Manchester United, the home field of San Diego State football (Snapdragon Stadium), the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, Padres, Live Nation and a major mobile esports league (the ESL Snapdragon Pro Series.

Qualcomm SVP & CMO Don McGuire was featured in the CMO Spotlight during the CAA World Congress of Sports on Wednesday and described two areas that were added to the company’s marketing mix to enhance brand awareness: brand partnerships and building community. He said Snapdragon looks at types of partnerships that “align from a brand values perspective” but also can “help us tell our story and connect our technology and what technology enables to people’s passions.”

McGuire said the ManU kit sponsorship is a “big step forward” for Snapdragon. He noted that club has 1.1 billion fans/followers worldwide and that a team jersey is “sold once every 15 seconds.” With Mercedes F1, McGuire outlined that Snapdragon wanted to do something that aligned with its growing auto business. He explained a new VIP virtual reality experience for fans to tour the team’s garage, which debuted during the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

McGuire said the venue sponsorship deal in its home of San Diego is “going to create moments for fans that they'll be able to talk about.” Beyond Aztecs football, the stadium is home to two big soccer clubs in the NWSL’s San Diego Wave and the soon-to-launch San Diego FC of MLS. “We're also using it as a way to educate 35,000-plus fans at any given time what Snapdragon is and how it enables these experiences and their devices,” McGuire said. “It's a good tool for us to bring in fan experiences and to showcase our technology as well. And it's a nod to our hometown.”

The HOUSTON CHRONICLE dives into the reasons why the NHL has never put a team in Houston under the header, " The NHL and Houston have never come together because of politics, arenas and ownership ." For decades, the NHL has been "the white whale" of Houston pro sports, as the nation’s fourth-largest city, a top-10 media market that "boasts a hockey history going back to the 1940s and once saw the World Hockey Association’s Aeros ... outdraw the NBA’s Rockets" remains "iced out." And still, "the freeze looks to continue with no definitive end in sight." In December 1990, then-Quebec Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut said "San Diego, Miami, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta. The NHL believes our future is in these cities." In the years since, 17 markets have gotten new teams via expansion or relocation -- but not Houston. And while Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has "expressed more interest of late" in bringing an NHL team to Toyota Center, it "appears Houston has been passed by another market" with recent reports that the Coyotes are moving to Salt Lake City next season.

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"The press called the donations received after this organization’s 1938 founding 'a silver tide which actually swamped the White House.'"