The deal calls for Blanco, formerly of the Mexican First League Division, to represent the electronics retailer's new Hispanic shopping experience across the U.S., and to work with the chain's 45 Chicagoland stores, encouraging youth-technology initiatives.

"Connecting with our Hispanic customers is a fundamental part of Best Buy's growth strategy," the company says. "We believe our involvement with Cuauhtémoc and Chicago Fire Soccer will help us build long-lasting relationships with many new customers, especially those with a Hispanic background." Best Buy entered a three-year sponsorship with the Fire back in January.

The company also says it is making a significant investment in Hispanic marketing, in addition to its launch of a Spanish-language version of BestBuy.com (espanol.bestbuy.com) last November, including adding multilingual sales associates at stores across the country, offering assistance in Spanish via the Best Buy call center, and adding bilingual signage throughout the stores. It has also launched a national advertising campaign created specifically for Hispanic customers.

Meanwhile, Best Buy turned in fourth-quarter results that showed that while it is definitely feeling the same economic pains as other big-box retailers, it's also gaining in market share--adding 1%, for a total of 21% of the U.S. electronics market.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, revenues gained 4% to $13.4 billion, while net income fell to $737 million, compared to $763 million a year earlier.

Comparable-store sales slipped 0.2%. Revenues from flat-screen TVs, video games, GPS devices and notebook computers gained, offsetting declines in MP3 devices, CDs, and DVDs. And while the consumer electronics category--which accounts for about 42% of revenue--declined 4.6%, home-office sales, which account for 26% of revenue, gained 5.5%.

The company says it's not altering expansion plans because of the slower economy. In the coming fiscal year, it plans to boost capital spending to more than $1 billion, adding as many as 140 new stores.