The Port Adelaide Football Club has secretly purchased 26 properties surrounding its Alberton home base in a $20 million investment which should financially future-proof the club for decades.
In one of the more ambitious and original projects undertaken by an Australian sporting club, the AFL has contributed $10 million to the project as one of the first financial plays coming from Andrew Dillon’s new competition investment fund.
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch (left) is steering a $20 million property investment, backed by the AFL, to secure the club’s future.Credit: Artwork: Marija Ercegovac
A 20-member property trust, led by Port chairman David Koch and made up of two other directors of the club and a further 17 passionate Port Adelaide supporters, has contributed the remaining $10 million.
The highly confidential scheme began three years ago and only concluded in early February when the final local landowner agreed to sell, handing Port the last piece of a complex property puzzle.
The now financially transformed club, which faced a $12 million debt towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and negative net assets, will on Thursday at Port Adelaide’s annual general meeting announce $70 million worth of assets on their balance sheet.
Port will move immediately after the forthcoming South Australian state election to have the newly purchased 20,000 square metre package of land, including the club’s carpark, rezoned and redeveloped into a virtual new suburb.
A concept image of the proposed Alberton development.
Sitting five kilometres from the new AUKUS submarine program, the proposed precinct will boast a boulevard running through to Port Road and include a mix of residential, educational, sporting and medical facilities.
Koch said the move would transform the club’s assets over the next decade to an estimated $250-300 million.
“Once the asset is generating value, rather than depreciating, like most club facilities,” said Koch, “in 10 years’ time our projected income stream should earn the club between $5 million and $8 million annually.”
The radical proposed redevelopment began in early 2023 when Port Adelaide began quietly buying property alongside their home ground. Before the club joined the AFL, Port Adelaide had owned eight of the properties which – under the conditions of their then SANFL-controlled licence – were split between the SANFL Magpies and the Power.
The cash-strapped Power were forced to sell the last of those properties shortly after the 2004 premiership for $180,000. Recently, it cost the club more than $800,000 to buy it back.
Surprisingly, given the knowledge of the state government and local authorities, the proposed land buy-up has remained under wraps until now.
Port premiership coach Mark Williams’ famous post-grand final moment in 2004.Credit: Getty Images
The AFL came on board 18 months ago. The league’s infrastructure, clubs and finance boss Matthew Chun said the $10 million investment would earn the competition a significantly higher return than a high interest-yielding term deposit and that the AFL had not yet decided whether to remain involved in funding the development of the new precinct.
Chun said the club, which would complete their new AFLW facility by June, had made a sound financial decision while blending the old and the new in retaining “a bit of their soul and their heartland.
“The vision and the approach by the club in developing the Alberton footprint to create balance sheet strength for the future has been a sound decision by Port,” he said.
The project was held up for months as two long-time owners – one in a house, another in an apartment block – remained unwilling to sell. It only became possible at the start of this month when the final local property owner, who had been refusing to let go of their home for personal reasons, agreed to the sale.
The redevelopment will also include a third grandstand at Port’s Alberton ground in front of the local bowling club which will also be expanded by the club, which holds the head lease.
Club bosses Koch and Matthew Richardson, who have led the top-secret project, agreed the property transactions meant that Alberton – the club’s home since 1880 when a local farmer donated one of his paddocks to the then 10-year-old club – would remain Port’s heartland.
Jason Horne-Francis in front of the old grandstands at Alberton in 2023. A third will be built as part of the redevelopment. Credit: Matt Turner
“Right from the start, when we were broke, our challenge was that we were seen as a small club in a small state,” said Koch, who was installed as Port chairman by former AFL bosses Andrew Demetriou and Gillon McLachlan in late 2012.
“I still remember Gerard Healy describing us as the carcass on the AFL landscape,” Koch recalled of the club’s plight, which prompted the league to move on the previous board that had enraged commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick after it paid out departing coach Mark Williams in 2011 with AFL funding.
“We very briefly looked at moving closer to the Adelaide CBD, but that was just a moment of hubris. We had to build a sustainable financial model where we had the best facilities and without having to wholly depend on on-field performance.
“So we needed to explore new revenues. That’s what China was about. We wanted to create a strong national brand where big companies like MG and KFC came on board. But then COVID put China in jeopardy.”
Port played three matches for premiership points in Shanghai between 2017 and 2019.
Said CEO Richardson: “We don’t own our own stadiums like they do in the US and Europe, so our revenue streams come from sponsors, members and media rights. We know that some clubs set up new developments, like St Kilda for a while and then Essendon, but we wanted after everything the club has been through to retain our traditional base.
“But we needed a bigger plan. If I had to sum up what David has done for Port Adelaide, I would say he empowered us to think big again. China taught us that we could really do anything we put our minds to.
“People say China was a crazy idea, but who would have been crazy enough to say we would buy 26 properties in three years?”
Koch, a lifelong Port Adelaide supporter based in Sydney and last year installed as chairman of South Australian Tourism, threw his hat into the ring to replace Richard Goyder as AFL chairman, with the role ultimately going to Craig Drummond. He remains philosophical about his unsuccessful candidacy.
Koch said his ambitions for Port Adelaide were inspired also by his anger at the obstacles placed in front of the club when it joined the AFL, and his concerns for the future.
Recalling the meeting with Demetriou, which took place at Heritage Golf Club in grand final week of 2012, Koch said his only condition before agreeing to take over as chairman was that the AFL boss guarantee not to place the club into insolvency.
“Of course I’m still angry. That’s where ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ came from. They tried to split us,” Koch said of the club’s entry to the AFL.
“Our challenge was to create a legacy to ensure that never happens again. We can’t always guarantee on-field success, and we have to ask, ‘What if the media landscape changes?’ We needed to find a way to ensure the club would never want for anything.”
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