Dr. Jason Chandler joined ODU in 2012 and currently serves as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations and Revenue Generation. Dr. Chandler has served as a member of the senior athletic staff since 2015. He serves as the sport supervisor for the co-ed and women’s sailing programs and the men's and women's swimming teams.
Dr. Chandler oversees all areas of the external operations department including marketing, game atmosphere, social media, sports information, licensing and broadcasting for ODU’s 18 varsity sports. Dr. Chandler also supervises the revenue generation opportunities through sponsorship sales and ticket sales. Jason manages the contract between ODU’s media rights provider, PlayFly Sports, the apparel contract with UnderArmour and the relationship with Spectra Venue Management, which operates Chartway Arena and the ODU ticket office.
Dr. Chandler has led ODU to the top spot in men’s basketball attendance for Conference USA in three of the last four years. ODU has also led C-USA in total ticket revenue in all but one year since joining the conference. Over the course of Dr. Chandler’s tenure at ODU, he is responsible for generating over $30 million in ticket sales and achieving the highest annual ticket revenue result in the school’s history. In 2019, he led the ticket sales strategy to monetize the $72 million renovation of S.B. Ballard Stadium, which led to a 25% increase in combined football ticket revenue and seat memberships.
As part of the rise to prominence of ODU’s football program over its first decade of competition, Dr. Chandler was integral in advancing ODU’s home sellout streak to 60 straight games. For the 2016 Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl, ODU’s first bowl appearance, he was a member of the bowl game steering committee and created the school’s first bowl marketing plan, which resulted in the highest total of tickets sold by a participating school in the history of the Bahamas Bowl.
Dr. Chandler has received national recognition for his revenue-generating initiatives. ODU was recognized by NACMA for the top revenue-generating idea at the FBS level during the 2015-16 school year and was selected second in the same category in 2014-15.
Dr. Chandler has participated in numerous professional development seminars including completing the LEAD1 Institute in 2019 and the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium (CALS) in 2017.
Prior to becoming a member of the ODU Athletics staff, Jason was the Director of Sports Marketing at High Point University in 2008-2009. Following High Point, he held positions at Sam Houston State University as the Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations in 2010-2011 and Assistant Athletic Director for Corporate Sales in 2011-2012. While at SHSU, the athletics department experienced an incredible five-fold increase in sponsorship sales revenue and saw increases of 60% and 51% in ticket revenue for football and men’s basketball, respectively.
Jason graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science in business administration in 2004. He holds a Master of Science of business administration and a Master of Science of sport administration from Ohio University and a Doctor of Education in educational leadership in 2014 from Sam Houston State University.
Jason lettered in football for UNC and played in the Continental Tire Bowl in 2004. He is active within campus life at ODU, including serving on multiple university committees, serving as the faculty advisor for the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and teaching graduate classes in the ODU Sport Management program. Dr. Chandler and his wife Caitlin have a son, Evan, and a daughter, Catherine.