Paraag Marathe

Paraag Marathe is in his 21st year with the 49ers, currently serving as both President of 49ers Enterprises & Executive Vice President of Football Operations.

On the football side, Marathe continues in his long-respected role as the team’s chief contract negotiator and salary cap architect, while overseeing the team’s football analytics department, among other football duties. He is responsible for the 49ers compliance with the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement and works alongside general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan on all aspects of the club’s football operations.

Marathe has played an integral role in rebuilding the 49ers current roster, negotiating contract extensions in recent years with a number of key players, including QB Jimmy Garoppolo, DL Arik Armstead and DB Jimmie Ward. Additionally, Marathe’s work during free agency has helped to land accomplished veteran players, such as All-Pro CB Richard Sherman and T Trent Williams (trade), Pro Bowlers DL Dee Ford (trade/extension) and FB Kyle Juszczyk as well as LB Kwon Alexander. Over the years, Marathe has consistently kept the club in a competitive salary cap position.

While serving as 49ers team president from 2014-16 and COO from 2010-13, Marathe oversaw the development of Levi’s Stadium and helped bring to life the vision of an unparalleled fan experience at the venue. Using the Bay Area as inspiration, the club focused on bringing technology, sustainability, and culture to the stadium experience. His leadership was critical during the club’s transition from Candlestick Park to Levi’s Stadium, as he set the vision and hired many of the current executive team members.  He also played a critical role on the small team that founded and incubated VenueNext, a technology company that is setting new standards for the live event experience.  

In addition to 49ers games, the venue has hosted a myriad of non-NFL events such as the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, Super Bowl 50, WrestleMania 31, the 2015 NHL Stadium Series, multiple PAC 12 Championship Games, the RedBox Bowl, concerts, and international soccer. Under Marathe’s leadership, the stadium garnered industry acclaim, most notably the prestigious honor of Sports Business Journal 2015 Sports Facility of the Year and Venue of the Year at the 2015 Stadium Business Awards in Barcelona, Spain.

Within 49ers Enterprises, Marathe oversees outside business ventures, advisory efforts, and major investment opportunities for the organization. Marathe leads 49ers Enterprises’ minority ownership position in Leeds United as the Vice Chairman and board member of the English Premier League club. The 49ers increased their stake in Leeds United to 37% in January 2021 after making its original investment in 2018 when the historic football club competed in the Championship League. Leeds United completed its 16-year climb back to the top level of English soccer in 2020, earning automatic promotion back to the Premier League by winning the Championship outright. The club fell just shy of promotion in 2019, the first year of 49ers Enterprises’ involvement with Leeds United, advancing to the Championship playoff semi-final match.

Marathe was named the Chairman of USA Cricket in October 2018 and moved quickly to ensure USA Cricket earned recognition by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as the organization’s 105th member and develop a world-class T20 professional cricket league in the United States. 

Beyond the 49ers, Marathe is actively involved in the Bay Area community with organizations and causes that are personally important to him. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for Andrea’s Voice and Project HEAL, two nonprofits that are focused on bringing awareness and funding, respectively, for fighting eating disorders. He serves on the Board of the Sequoia Hospital Foundation, where both of his daughters were born. Marathe is a faculty member at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he is a Lecturer in Management and co-teaches MBA courses on Negotiation Dynamics in Sports, Entertainment and Media. In 2015, he was selected as a member of the Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class. Marathe is also a two-time recipient (2012 & 2019) of the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s Johnnie L. Cochran Salute to Excellence Award, which honors individuals and organizations who display outstanding performances on the field, in front offices and across the United States by exemplifying diversity, courage and meritorious performance.

A native of Saratoga, CA, Marathe’s passion for the 49ers was instilled at a very young age. As an avid Bay Area sports fan, he has rarely missed any 49ers games since he was six years old. Marathe’s Bay Area roots run deep, having received his bachelor’s degree with high honors from the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley and his MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. 

Marathe, his wife, Jennifer, and two daughters, Juniper and Maren, live in Los Altos, CA.