diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackend.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackend.scala
index b381436839227..d9d62b0e287ed 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackend.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackend.scala
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ private[spark] class MesosSchedulerBackend(
 
   // The listener bus to publish executor added/removed events.
   val listenerBus = sc.listenerBus
+  
+  private[mesos] val mesosExecutorCores = sc.conf.getDouble("spark.mesos.mesosExecutor.cores", 1)
 
   @volatile var appId: String = _
 
@@ -139,7 +141,7 @@ private[spark] class MesosSchedulerBackend(
       .setName("cpus")
       .setType(Value.Type.SCALAR)
       .setScalar(Value.Scalar.newBuilder()
-        .setValue(scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK).build())
+        .setValue(mesosExecutorCores).build())
       .build()
     val memory = Resource.newBuilder()
       .setName("mem")
@@ -220,10 +222,9 @@ private[spark] class MesosSchedulerBackend(
         val mem = getResource(o.getResourcesList, "mem")
         val cpus = getResource(o.getResourcesList, "cpus")
         val slaveId = o.getSlaveId.getValue
-        // TODO(pwendell): Should below be 1 + scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK?
         (mem >= MemoryUtils.calculateTotalMemory(sc) &&
           // need at least 1 for executor, 1 for task
-          cpus >= 2 * scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK) ||
+          cpus >= (mesosExecutorCores + scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK)) ||
           (slaveIdsWithExecutors.contains(slaveId) &&
             cpus >= scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK)
       }
@@ -232,10 +233,9 @@ private[spark] class MesosSchedulerBackend(
         val cpus = if (slaveIdsWithExecutors.contains(o.getSlaveId.getValue)) {
           getResource(o.getResourcesList, "cpus").toInt
         } else {
-          // If the executor doesn't exist yet, subtract CPU for executor
-          // TODO(pwendell): Should below just subtract "1"?
-          getResource(o.getResourcesList, "cpus").toInt -
-            scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK
+          // If the Mesos executor has not been started on this slave yet, set aside a few
+          // cores for the Mesos executor by offering fewer cores to the Spark executor
+          (getResource(o.getResourcesList, "cpus") - mesosExecutorCores).toInt
         }
         new WorkerOffer(
           o.getSlaveId.getValue,
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackendSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackendSuite.scala
index a311512e82c5e..cdd7be0fbe5dd 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackendSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/mesos/MesosSchedulerBackendSuite.scala
@@ -118,12 +118,12 @@ class MesosSchedulerBackendSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext with Mo
     expectedWorkerOffers.append(new WorkerOffer(
       mesosOffers.get(0).getSlaveId.getValue,
       mesosOffers.get(0).getHostname,
-      2
+      (minCpu - backend.mesosExecutorCores).toInt
     ))
     expectedWorkerOffers.append(new WorkerOffer(
       mesosOffers.get(2).getSlaveId.getValue,
       mesosOffers.get(2).getHostname,
-      2
+      (minCpu - backend.mesosExecutorCores).toInt
     ))
     val taskDesc = new TaskDescription(1L, 0, "s1", "n1", 0, ByteBuffer.wrap(new Array[Byte](0)))
     when(taskScheduler.resourceOffers(expectedWorkerOffers)).thenReturn(Seq(Seq(taskDesc)))
diff --git a/docs/running-on-mesos.md b/docs/running-on-mesos.md
index c984639bd34cf..594bf78b67713 100644
--- a/docs/running-on-mesos.md
+++ b/docs/running-on-mesos.md
@@ -210,6 +210,16 @@ See the [configuration page](configuration.html) for information on Spark config
     Note that total amount of cores the executor will request in total will not exceed the spark.cores.max setting.
   </td>
 </tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><code>spark.mesos.mesosExecutor.cores</code></td>
+  <td>1.0</td>
+  <td>
+    (Fine-grained mode only) Number of cores to give each Mesos executor. This does not
+    include the cores used to run the Spark tasks. In other words, even if no Spark task
+    is being run, each Mesos executor will occupy the number of cores configured here.
+    The value can be a floating point number.
+  </td>
+</tr>
 <tr>
   <td><code>spark.mesos.executor.home</code></td>
   <td>driver side <code>SPARK_HOME</code></td>