Tennis SA will welcome the Port Adelaide Football Club as the newest tenant at Memorial Drive Tennis Centre, North Adelaide from 1 November 2013 when the club opens a satellite office in the facility.
Tennis SA CEO, Steve Baldas “Memorial Drive Tennis Centre is home to tennis in South Australia and an iconic venue for the State.
“As the governing body of tennis in South Australia, our role is to capture interest in the sport and translate this into participation. Following the completion of the Adelaide Oval redevelopment, the venue finds itself in a brilliant physical location to attract more people to the sport.”
“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. We look forward to welcoming Port Adelaide Football Club to the venue, and working with the club on initiatives to increase participation in our respective sports.”
“We continue to be in numerous conversations with South Australian sporting codes such as Netball SA, Adelaide Crows, and Squash SA on how to meet our common goals, which is to increase interest in our sport and respective athletes.”
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,” Mr Thomas said.
“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.”
– ends-
Memorial Drive Tennis Centre has played host to numerous major sporting events, from the Australian Open, Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties, Masters Games, Adelaide International through to the World Tennis Challenge which is currently held in January each year.
Major concerts held at the venue have included the likes of, Elton John (1971, 1982 and 1990), The Bee Gees – 1972, The Rolling Stones – (1973) The Police (1981), AC/DC (1981), Cold Chisel (1982), U2 (1989), Bon Jovi (1989) Kylie Minogue (1991), Pearl Jam and more recently, Kings of Leon (2009) and Powderfinger (2010)
Latest
SA