The 49ers have multiple extension candidates still waiting for a deal with a few weeks until training camp.
But on Thursday, it wasn’t Deebo Samuel or Nick Bosa getting an extension finalized and signed. It was Greg Papa, the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the team.
The longtime Bay Area sports broadcaster signed an extension to remain as the voice of the 49ers through the 2028 season, locking him in for the next seven seasons. Papa joined the 49ers in 2019 after 21 seasons as the radio voice of the Oakland Raiders.
“Our team has experienced incredible games, plays and moments on the field in the past few seasons, a large portion of which have been accompanied by memorable calls by Greg Papa,” 49ers team president Al Guido said in the press release announcing the extension. “His voice has become synonymous with our organization, and we are thrilled to welcome him back to our radio booth for years to come.”
The 49ers also added Lindsey Pallares as a team reporter, a job that was vacated by Keiana Martin when she left for MLB Network. Pallares had been at Fox 40 in Sacramento and has previously worked in Colorado, Green Bay, Wisconsin and San Diego.
But the extension of Papa is the big news, one that is additionally beneficial to both the 49ers and to KNBR, the team’s flagship radio station where Papa hosts the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. show every weekday.
Papa, 59, has been in the Bay Area since 1986, when he became the voice of the Golden State Warriors. He’s called games for five of the seven Bay Area major professional sports teams, spending 12 years calling Warriors games, 14 years on the A’s, 21 on the Raiders, five seasons on the Giants and now three seasons — with the contract to stretch to 10 years — on the 49ers.
No word yet on if Papa will try to add the Sharks or the Earthquakes to his play-calling resume. But he won’t be able to work on the weekends from August to January — or potentially February — anytime soon.
