For Sport Business’s exclusive first release, embargoed for 24 hours before other outlets may distribute this news.

JOSH BURACK, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ZEUS SPORTS MARKETING, DENTSU SPORTS SENIOR CONSULTANT, FORMER CEO OF ASIAN PGA TOUR, VERY SADLY PASSES AWAY.

Veteran sports marketing professional succumbs to cancer, just shy of age 55.

London, Singapore & São Paulo:

Zeus Sports Marketing (ZSM) is tremendously saddened to announce the tragic passing of its Managing Director, Josh Burack, who died peacefully this past Friday afternoon, in Brisbane, surrounded by loved ones, after an 9-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Josh enjoyed a successful career across multiple continents in sports marketing that spanned over 30 years in general management, global media rights distribution, sponsorship sales, event operations and TV production. American by passport only, he was a truly global citizen, having lived and worked abroad for the last 28 years of his career, in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

After graduating from American University in Washington, D.C. with a degree in Communications, Burack spent the first ten years of his career in multi-media production.  His work took him to over 25 countries with projects ranging from producing FIG World Cup Skiing in France, directing world-feeds for ATP and WTA tennis across the U.S., making documentary-style preview programmes for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1994 and 1996 Olympic Games in his role at Golden Gate Productions (GGP) in San Francisco. The company produced network programming for CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX Sports, as well as a steady stream for ESPN and Prime Networks.  Content included the Super Bowl Special for the NFL’s rights holder each season, NCAA College Football Specials, March Madness College Basketball Shows and live network coverage for AVP Beach Volleyball and live Winter Sports programming.

World Sport Group, today known as Sportfive(www.sportfive.com), brought Burack to Asia in 1997 as Supervising Producer for the weekly show “Asia Sport.” Burack totally revamped the series and it won ‘Best Sports Programme’ at the 1998 Asian Television Awards.

Also, before coming to Asia, Burack worked in London for IMG-TWI on its long-running series “Trans World Sport” and prior to that in the USA for the original sports highlights show “The George Michael Sports Machine.”  This initial decade of hands-on production work prepared Josh perfectly for his work on the commercial side of the sports marketing industry that followed.

Burack was recruited by IEC in Sports and joined in January 2000 as their Director of the APAC region. During the next 12 years, Josh created, planned and executed the agency’s corporate strategies for the region and spearheaded the firm’s growth from a single employee to a team of 12 personnel with offices in Hong Kong, Australia and Thailand.  As one of the shareholders of IEC before the agency was sold to Lagardère Sports in 2007, Burack played an instrumental role in building the company’s customer and client bases, having secured long-term media rights contracts in key markets including Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, India and Indonesia. This took the agency from a small Asian player to a market leader with more than 50 broadcast partners by 2010. In parallel working with the acquisitions team, Burack led a six-fold increase in event contracts. Events included ATP and WTA Tennis tournaments, World Aquatics, World Volleyball), BWF Badminton, ITTF Table Tennis, FIG Gymnastics, World Athletics and International Football Tours.

Following the sale of IEC to Lagardère, Burack remained with the agency for four and a half years, his enormous contributions helping the firm fully finalise the company’s sale.

Then, at age 40, Josh enrolled at The National Univresityof Singapore (NUS), where he achieved a Masters in Business Administration with a focus on international business in the Asia Pacific region.

After earning his MBA, Burack joined Dentsu Sports Asia (DSA) in Singapore (www.dentsusports.com) as Senior Vice President and Head of TV, Media & Sponsorship.  Together with DSA’s CEO, Kunihito Morimura, Burack led DSA’s 20-person team whilst overseeing the firm’s sponsorship and key consulting accounts with General Motors, Telekom Malaysia and WakuWaku Japan. Burack controlled the P&L for all of DSA’s media projects, including the Olympic Games cycle, which included the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics and the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. He also led Dentsu’s 92-person broadcast team in Brazil to deliver more Olympics content than ever before to Asia, through a specially designed 13-channel package for the advertising giant’s rights holders across 22 Asian territories.

Josh was also responsible for a great deal of DSA’s work for Dentsu’s headquarters in Japan. He took charge of Dentsu Inc.’s media rights sales in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar, Indian Sub-Continent, Pan-Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. With an expansive senior role at DSA, he also managed the set-up and recuitment of a 7-person DSA subsidiary, Dentsu Sports Malaysia (DSM), in Kuala Lumpur.

In September 2016, Burack was then appointed as the CEO and Commissioner of the Asian PGA Tour (www.asiantour.com), which is a member of the International Federation of PGA Tours and is the official sanctioning body of professional golf in the region.  The federation employed 30 full-time personnel and another 17 staff through its joint venture company with IMG – Asian Tour Media.  Josh successfully guided the Tour through a period of rapid growth increasing tournaments on the main circuit from 24 events in 2016, to 32 tournaments for the 2018 season.  He signed a strategic alliance with the DP World Tour which increased their cooperation to eight co-sanctioned tournaments per year; agreed co-sanctioning partnerships with the PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour’s that expanded the Asian Tour’s global footprint to Fiji, New Zealand, Mauritius and South Africa. Most significantly, Burack helped rebuild fractured relations with the China Golf Association by negotiating a strategic partnership with the CGA, which led to the Asian Tour returning to China with three tournaments following a nine-year gap.  Beyond the international expansion, under his stewardship, Josh led the Asian Tour to secure its first Order of Merit Partner with Habitat for Humanity, after a ten-year gap of this important category. In addition, Josh spearheaded an expanded sponsorship with Rolex, who supported the new tournaments in China.  The Asian Tour also became the first Tour outside of Europe to become an affiliate of the R&A through a development alliance which started in 2017.

Following his transformational period running one of golf’s major tours, Burack rejoined the agency side of the business, teaming up with his former IEC and Lagardère Sports colleague, Nick Haigh.

As Partners, they ran Zeus Sports Marketing (www.zeussportsmarketing.com), a specialised boutique sports marketing agency.  Through its offices in the UK, Singapore and São Paulo, ZSM distributes the international betting and data rights to seven football leagues globally, comprising nearly 2,000 matches per year.  ZSM also handles sponsorship sales to select properties.  Additionally, ZSM serves as a partner for a number of the industry’s leading players including Dentsu Inc, Telia, 1190 Sports and Commercial Sports Media.

Under ZSM’s consulting arm, until his tragic passing, Burack served as Senior Consultant for the Sports Division of Dentsu Inc, as well as mentoring up and coming members of the Dentsu Inc. Media Rights Team.  This included the media rights sales for the latest Olympic Games cycle (Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024); Asian Games 2026; COPA America 2024, World Aquatics and World Athletics’ World Championships and other top-tier sports programming.

ZSM’s CEO and Founder Nick Haigh commented: “Words really cannot express the departure of Josh from our lives. The entire ZSM team is shattered at the loss of such a distinguished, admired and talented leader and colleague. I am personally devastated to lose my best friend and business partner and our sincerest heartfelt condolences go out to his dear family, friends and everyone who knew the loving, loyal, dedicated, vibrant, funny, talented and incredible person Josh was. His fight to the end epitomised who he was – tenacious, full of drive and hungry for ever more success. You were a class act. Rest In Peace Brother.”

Meanwhile, Dentsu International Sports Senior Director Hiroshi Mochizuki, said:

“Over 20 years as a trusted professional partner and a close friend, we have battled against the turbulent times of Asian sports together, and I will never forget the major projects we worked on side by side. He was always professional, and his strong leadership and sense of responsibility served as a role model for all of us. I am proud of the way he faced his illness with courage until the very end. Words cannot express the sorrow I feel for his family, but I offer my deepest condolences from the bottom of my heart.”

David Basheer, long-time Australian FIFA World Cup commentator and close personal friend, added:

“In my 35+ year career, I have never come across a sports media executive who was so respected and revered. Josh always tried to do the right thing for the people he came into contact with. His courage, loyalty and enormous heart, right to the end, were an inspiration to all those close to him. I’m devastated by his loss.”

Josh is survived by his loving wife of 22 years, Michiko, their 18 year old daughter, Mia, and 20 year old son, Zack, his Mom Brenda and other family members in Massachusetts, New York and California.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any farewell gifts to be made as a donation to a charity which is close to the heart of the Burack family – Special Olympics Asia Pacific (https://www.specialolympics.org/get-involved/donate).

About Zeus Sports Marketing:

Established in 2015, with offices in London, Singapore and São Paolo, ZSM is a sports marketing agency with a global network of partners and clients.  ZSM distributes media rights and betting/data rights worldwide, in addition to handling sponsorship sales to selected federations and properties with unique points of difference. The organization advises entities looking to enter, grow, or diversify within the complex business of international sports.  ZSM is also focused on securing funding and tactical partners for promising sports entities, as well as delivering M&A opportunities within the sport, media and technology sectors.  More information can be found on the company website: