The Paris Marathon Is Moving to a Lottery And A New Sponsor for Its 50th Edition

Anyone who wants to run the 50th Paris Marathon can stop setting alarms. Entry for the April 4, 2027 race opened Tuesday, and places in the general field go by draw for the first time rather than to whoever gets through the checkout first. Applications close Sept. 30, and the day you apply buys no advantage.

Entering the draw costs nothing. Runners who get in will hear from Oct. 1 and then have 72 hours to confirm and pay 169 euros, with a five percent discount for French federation license holders, Jogging International reported. A further 1,000 subsidized places go at 50 euros to people on income support, students on means-tested grants, job seekers and disabled adults. Groups of two to six can apply together, and if one name comes out, all of them are in. Charity entry works differently: raise at least 420 euros for a partner cause and pay an 85-euro registration fee.

That flat price replaces a sliding scale that ran from 135 to 179 euros depending on how early you signed up, SPORTMAG reported. Early birds lose out, procrastinators come out ahead, and a race with one of the biggest fields in the sport finally does what London and New York have done for years. Paris drew close to 60,000 runners in April, according to the Associated Press. London’s 2027 ballot took 1.3 million applications.

A New Organizer, a New Sponsor and a New Name

All of it changes at once because the race has changed hands. Amaury Sport Organisation had organized the Paris Marathon since 1998 and lost the concession to Cadence Running United, a consortium of the agencies Havas Events, Keneo and OSE led by Laurent Sturtz, formerly of the EcoTrail de Paris. Cadence holds the marathon and the Paris half-marathon through 2030 and pays the city a minimum of 3.5 million euros a year for them, Sport Business Club reported, close to double the old fee, according to SPORTMAG. ASO fought the award and lost: the administrative court threw out its challenge on July 3 and ordered it to pay 1,800 euros to the city and the incoming operator, u-trail reported.

ASICS arrives with the new owners. The brand announced Tuesday that it takes the title from 2027, having been a partner of the event since 2009, and the race gets a new look and the tagline “La Joie court les rues,” which ASICS translates as “Paris runs on joy.” Eddy Ferhi, marketing director at ASICS France, said the aim was an experience “shaped by runners, for runners.”

Schneider Electric, title sponsor since 2013, is not leaving; it stays in the fold as the event’s sustainability partner, per Jogging International. The half-marathon keeps HOKA’s name, which it has carried since 2026 under a five-year deal announced in March 2025 in place of Harmonie Mutuelle, so Paris runs its two big road races four weeks apart under rival shoe brands. ASICS holds one other big city-marathon title, at the Los Angeles Marathon, on a four-year deal from 2026.

What Runners Still Do Not Know

Nobody has been told how big the 2027 field will be; Cadence says it is still in talks with the authorities, per Jogging International. The new course is unseen too, due out in the early part of 2027 and then kept rather than redrawn each year, while the half-marathon route is expected to move around the twenty arrondissements, according to SPORTMAG.

Two things carry over from the last edition. Aid stations will hand out no cups or bottles, the change MH covered earlier this year, so runners bring their own flask or cup, and Cadence has told Jogging International there will be twice as many drinks points, one every 2.5K. Runners can also turn down the finisher medal and the race shirt at sign-up, per SPORTMAG.

The handover has not been smooth. In late July, u-trail reported that the old marathon website was returning a server error and the race’s long-standing Facebook page had gone dark, with registration held back until September while a new organizer absorbed a race of that size in months.

Yemaneberhan Crippa won in Paris in April in 2:05:18, and Shure Demise broke the women’s course record with 2:18:34. The half-marathon comes first, on March 7, and the lottery results land Oct. 1.