Obit: Long-Time Network Sports Ad Exec Jim Burnette, Dead At 81

Jim Burnette, a long-time sports advertising sales exec credited wtih creating the “pre-kickoff” NFL commercial break as well as the TV’s superimposed yellow football “first down line,” died Feb. 6. He was 81.

Burnette, who began his career at ABC in the mid-1960s and served as a media buyer at the William Esty ad agency in the early 1970s, went on to hold senior positions in advertising sales at NBC Sports and Fox Sports.

Among his other sports advertising milestones, was introducing home plate advertising signage to Major League Baseball.

"He took risks," retired Anheuser-Busch media chief Tony Ponturo said in a LinkedIn post, recalling, "We sponsored the NFL opening kickoffs with the Budweiser label around the frame...had never been done.

"He pioneered quarter exclusivities with the auto makers on the NBA telecasts."

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1 comment about "Obit: Long-Time Network Sports Ad Exec Jim Burnette, Dead At 81".
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  1. David Thomas from Thomas & Dennler LLC, February 14, 2024 at 1:03 p.m.

    Jim Burnette's career offers ample  evidence that creativity in tv advertising was not the exclusive domain of copywriters or art directors. No one brought more innovation to television ad sales than did Jim. He was one of a kind. May he rest in peace.

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