THE Port Adelaide Football Club and Tennis SA have entered a partnership that will see the club become a tenant at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre from 1 November 2013 under a three-year lease.

Port Adelaide will play home games at the Adelaide Oval from next season and chief executive Keith Thomas said having access to a satellite office in the city precinct would allow the club to be able to service its stakeholders more efficiently.

“We are thrilled to form a partnership with Tennis SA and become a tenant at Memorial Drive in the heart of the Adelaide Oval precinct,” Mr Thomas said.

“Having an office space in the precinct at Memorial Drive in a central location will make it so much easier for us to service our people.

“We’ll be more accessible to our members, particularly those that live on the eastern side of the city.

“I envisage that we’ll set up a permanent membership counter at Memorial Drive and use the facility for corporate opportunities and as a fully functional game-day operation.

“We will also continue to explore any commercial opportunities that may exist within this precinct.

“Beyond the fact that it is such an outstanding location, as a club we feel we share some genuine synergy with Memorial Drive. Like Port Adelaide, Memorial Drive is steeped in tradition and is an iconic brand that is instantly recognisable to all South Australians.”

Mr Thomas reinforced that Alberton would remain the permanent home of Port Adelaide with its full-time administration and football staff continuing to work out of the Allan Scott Power Headquarters.

“I must stress to the Port Adelaide community that our offices at Memorial Drive are satellite offices designed to make it easier for our people to do business with Port Adelaide,” Mr Thomas said.

“Our home base containing our administration and football department resources and facilities will remain in the Allan Scott Power Headquarters at Alberton.

“We look forward with great excitement to playing home games at the Adelaide Oval from 2014 which includes having a footprint within the precinct at Memorial Drive, but our home base will remain at Alberton as it has since 1880 when we moved from Glanville.”

Tennis SA chief executive Steve Baldas said Memorial Drive was positioned in a brilliant physical location to attract more people following the Adelaide Oval redevelopment.

“Memorial Drive Tennis Centre is currently tenanted by likeminded organizations, Rugby SA, AFL SportsReady, Turf Cricket SA and shares onsite gymnasium facilities with the South Australian Cricket Association ,” Mr Baldas said. “We look forward to welcoming the Port Adelaide Football Club to the venue and working with the club on initiatives to increase participation in our sport.”

Memorial Drive has hosted a number of major events from Australian Open tennis and Davis Cup ties through to music concerts featuring some of the leading artists in the world. It will again play host to the highly acclaimed World Tennis Challenge in January featuring champions from today and yesteryear.