This UVA Darden Grad Keeps His Eye on the Ball for the Kansas City Royals

Thursday 27 March. Opening Day for Major League Baseball. First pitch for the Kansas City Royals is set for 3:10 p.m. By that time, Jason Sinnarajah will have been at Kauffman Stadium for six or seven hours with many more ahead.

Such is the life for the chief operating officer of a professional sports team. And it’s the perfect job for Sinnarajah, who earned his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 2007.

“I love the game. I’ve always loved going to stadiums,” he said in a recent interview with The Darden Report. “It’s been a passion of mine and one of my favorite things to do in general, regardless of the job.”

Operations and Much More

But make no mistake. Serving as COO of a pro franchise is a demanding, at times all-consuming executive role that leads technology, business analytics, stadium and ticket operations, retail, and food-and-beverage service.

That’s even if it comes with an undeniably cool office around the corner from Kauffman Stadium’s iconic fountains located just beyond the center field fence. (Making sure the fountains are working right is Sinnarajah’s team’s responsibility, too.)

“Everything that happens from a game-day operations perspective, from single-game ticketing to the experience of the ballpark,” he said of his portfolio.

Seasons of Preparation

Right now, activity is in high gear as the Royals organization build a crescendo toward Opening Day. While the players were competing in final spring training games, Sinnarajah’s team inspects stadium seats, double-checks those famous fountains, staffs for ticket operations, and makes final touches on new features for Kauffman Stadium.

Last summer, for example, Sinnarajah coordinated the team’s introduction of a new facial recognition technology that streamlines entry for fans who sign up, allowing them to enter the stadium through certain gates without having to stop or scan tickets.

“What could take minutes or several minutes can take seconds now for most games,” he said at the time, as the Royals became one of the first MLB teams to introduce the technology.

Game Day Rounds

Opening day will begin early and Sinnarajah plans for his usual rounds, checking in with various components of the game-day staffing and operations, laying eyes on key points in the stadium, addressing the staff.

“Just to welcome them and thank them for being here,” he said, “and then also to talk about the standards we want to uphold here. It’s important that you’re here for those game-day staffers to see that.”

With every passing day leading up to the opener, energy and excitement build among the team, organization and community. It’s the same across the league with every franchise beginning the season with optimism and an unblemished record.

Darden Lessons in Action

After earning his undergraduate degree from Boston College, Sinnarajah spent three years with General Mills, primarily as a financial analyst. From early on, he had an interest in eventually leading an organization and business school seemed to make sense. From among many options, Darden checked the right boxes: demanding coursework, case-method based, smaller setting.

“You get to talk through business ideas 600 times in two years, and it was a rigorous program, which I liked,” he said. “I got to meet 300-plus other people that I now share experiences with.”

That includes his wife, Jessica (MBA ’07), whom Sinnarajah met at Darden. Her career focuses on executive search in the private equity, venture capital and investment banking space. The couple have two sports-centric sons, Taylor, 13, and Matthew, 10.

Jason and Jessica Sinnarajah met while students at UVA Darden. He’s COO for a professional baseball team, while Jessica’s career focuses on executive search in the financial space.

Sinnarajah, who currently is a member of Darden’s Alumni Association Board of Directors, was part of Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner’s long-range advising committee while a student here.

“He used to talk about Darden being a place of practical affairs,” he said. “I’ve always remembered that. Darden gave me good fundamental business practices. It taught me how to adapt to different environments, about how to manage and be an empathetic leader.”

“Obviously, I met my wife, which was game-changing too. That’s probably the most important thing!”

Career Progression

Since leaving Charlottesville, Sinnarajah has enjoyed a varied career with assignments drawing on his Darden experiences. He worked for Google and IBM’s Weather Company, focusing on global operations, strategy, analytics and digital media. He spent time in private equity, evaluating and buying companies. He headed up strategy and growth for Ziff Davis.

Those roles took him to Singapore, Tokyo and Australia and to both coasts of the U.S.

Through it all, his passion for sports never wavered.

Sinnarajah enjoys a moment at Kauffman Stadium with his sons, Taylor and Matthew.

In 2012, Sinnarajah got his first job in professional sports operations, leading the strategy and business analytics unit of the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. After three years there, his career shifted back to media and tech and back to the San Francisco Bay area for the next five years, where he gained high-level executive experience in global strategy and partnerships, and in digital media and strategy with The Weather Company and Ziff Davis.

In 2020, Sinnarajah returned to pro sports. This time, it was to work for the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills – his favorite NFL team while growing up in Toronto.

Sinnarajah spent three years with the Bills as senior vice president of business administration before joining the Royals organization in 2023.

Kauffman Stadium has been relatively quiet in recent weeks. But all that is about to change. Some 38,000 fans are expected Thursday when – coincidentally – the team Sinnarajah first worked for, the Cleveland Guardians, visits Kansas City to start the 2025 season.

The Royals’ chief operating officer can’t wait.

“There’s an excitement,” he said. “Opening day in any sport is a celebration.”