FEBRUARY 18: About two and a half months after the 49ers’ front office reassignment was initially reported, the team has confirmed new titles for Al Guido and Paraag Marathe. According to a press release, Guido will be the club’s new president, while Marathe is now the Niners’ chief strategy officer and executive VP of football operations, as well as a managing partner in the investment entity created by the Yorks.
DECEMBER 5: York addressed the moves in an email to his staff (published on 49ers.com), discussing Marathe’s new role in the organization:
“Paraag has chosen to take a leadership role in the organization’s new ventures efforts. As you know, Paraag has been the lead in our partnership with the Sacramento Republic FC soccer team and was instrumental in developing and launching VenueNext. We anticipate great things to come from our new ventures wing as it continues to grow.
Despite how some have chosen to portray this transition in the media, I want you to know that Paraag has been and will continue to be an instrumental member of this organization. Without his contributions over the last 15 years, the successes achieved by this organization would not have been possible.”
York also discussed how Guido would take over some of Marathe’s previous responsibilities:
“With Paraag focusing so much time and energy on new business opportunities, Al has taken the lead on the day-to-day business operations of the team and Levi’s® Stadium.”
DECEMBER 4: 49ers president Paraag Marathe has been reassigned from his current role with the team, reports Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. According to Maiocco, Marathe will remain with his current title and job description for another couple months, but after the Super Bowl, he’ll take on a lesser role with the Niners and will become more involved in outside business ventures, including the Sacramento Republic soccer team.
Following his reassignment, Marathe will remain involved with the Niners to some extent. Per Maiocco, he’ll continue to manage San Francisco’s salary cap and will still be the club’s top contract negotiator. However, most of his new job description will focus on the 49ers’ outside business interests.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), the decision to change up the roles in the 49ers’ front office happened months ago, but the team wanted to make it through the 2015 season before instituting those changes. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, meanwhile, reports (via Twitter) that the reassignment was Marathe’s decision, since it gives him a chance to do more things and to be an equity partner in the York family’s ventures.
Of course, Schefter’s report would be a little easier to believe if the Niners hadn’t painted Jim Harbaugh‘s departure from the franchise last winter as a “mutual parting.” An NFL source tells Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News that one of the reasons Marathe is being deposed from his team president role is that he’s “believed to be the source of many recent leaks to national reporters, most notably the reports discrediting Colin Kaepernick.” Keeping that in mind, it’s easy to be skeptical about the report from Schefter, a national reporter.
In any case, according to Kawakami, no 49ers executive has been more polarizing than Marathe during his long tenure with the club, and he’s also one of owner Jed York‘s closest confidantes. As such, his reassignment represents something of a “sea change” for San Francisco’s front office structure.
Per Kawakami, Niners executive Al Guido is expected to assume many of Marathe’s administrative responsibilities. The team president title figures to come along with Guido’s new responsibilities, according to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.
