
Paraag Marathe
President of 49ers Enterprises and EVP of Football Operations
Biography
Paraag Marathe is in his 22nd 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 also co-chairs the NFL's Future of Football Committee.
Paraag Marathe is in his 22nd 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 also co-chairs the NFL's Future of Football Committee.
Marathe has played an integral role in rebuilding the 49ers current roster, negotiating contract extensions in recent years with a number of key players who were originally brought to the team thorough the draft, via trade or free agency. These include DL Arik Armstead and K Robbie Gould, Pro Bowlers FB Kyle Juszczyk, TE George Kittle, LB Fred Warner and T Trent Williams, along with DB Jimmie Ward and others. Over the years, Marathe has also consistently kept the club in a competitive salary cap position.
While serving as 49ers team President from 2014-16 and Chief Operating Officer 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.
Under Marathe's management, the venue hosted a myriad of non-NFL events such as Super Bowl 50, WrestleMania 31, the 2015 NHL Stadium Series, sold-out global concert tours and international soccer matches, in addition to 49ers games. Marathe's leadership helped the stadium garner 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 now own a 44% stake in Leeds United after making its original investment in 2018 when the historic football club competed in the Championship League. The club completed its 16-year climb back to the top level of English soccer in 2020, earning automatic promotion to the Premier League by winning the Championship outright. The club will compete in its third consecutive Premier League season in 2022-23 with a focus on climbing the table towards earning the opportunity to compete against the best teams across Europe.
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.