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San Francisco 49ers Leadership Change Will Have Big Impact On Sacramento Republic's Future

By Kyle Buis

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The San Francisco 49ers announced a shift in leadership that will affect the Sacramento Republic.

Owner Jed York announced team President Paraag Marathe will be stepping away from day-to-day business operations for the 49ers and Levi's Stadium. Those responsibilities will now fall under Chief Operating Officer Al Guido.

The statement issued by the team does not say whether Marathe will retain his title, though that is likely to change by season's end.

Marathe will remain in charge of contract negotiations and the team's analytics department. In addition, he will also "take a leadership role in the organization's new ventures efforts," which include the USL Pro's Sacramento Republic FC and VenueNext—a mobile app geared toward venues and guest experiences that debuted when Levi's Stadium opened in 2014.

Marathe's new role comes as the Republic is at a crossroads. The hopes for a Major League Soccer team in Sacramento took a blow earlier this year when the league opted to go with Minnesota for its last expansion plans before 2020.

Those plans seem settled currently, with the exception of Miami. MLS Commissioner Don Garber has repeatedly voiced his frustration with a David Beckham-led ownership group not being able to find a stadium site. Beckham was promised a team at a discounted rate as part of his MLS contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

But the stadium woes in Miami could be closer to over as the group found a site for a stadium northwest of Downtown Miami on Friday.

The stadium deal is described as privately financed, which would alleviate some of the concerns whether public financing could be secured. Both the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County recently paid a significant portion of the $634 million cost of Marlins Park, the home of the Miami Marlins that opened in 2012. The ballpark the city and county paid more than half a billion dollars for a building that has largely sat empty, as Marlins crowds continued to be small, with average attendance barely at 20,000 tickets sold a game.

Public stadium financing was also a concern in Sacramento, as the city poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a new downtown arena to keep the Sacramento Kings in town.

But Republic ownership had a different plan, announcing its stadium plans for a privately financed, urban infill project in the long-vacant railyards property, on the northwest corner of Downtown Sacramento this week. The city of Sacramento already invested $46 million in infrastructure for possible construction in the area. The new owner of the property is also a Republic investor.

Beckham's ownership group in Miami is hoping the fourth time is the charm for its stadium bid. The first plan called for building at PortMiami, but that plan died following a campaign with deep pockets opposing it and county commissioners rejecting the plan.

In May, the group was confident a waterfront project was the way to go, with one of Beckham's partners declaring, "We believe now that we have found the right location."

 

In June, he would be proven wrong. Two and a half weeks after unveiling the plan, it died after Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado changed his mind after residents vehemently opposed the plan.

Miami-Dade County officials attempting to offer a parcel near the home of the Miami Marlins, but it was a plan the group has previously rejected.

Now Marathe will join the decidedly uphill battle for an MLS team that involves keeping the league's attention on Sacramento while motivating a fanbase that's been passed over once already for expansion.

If the Miami deal goes through, an MLS team in Sacramento does not appear likely until after 2020.

 

 

 

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