PORT Adelaide’s mission to deliver a sustainable business model - free of AFL hand-outs - will take a significant step closer to reality in Sydney tonight with the signing of another corporate partner.

The Power is TattsBet’s preferred AFL club for the rebranding of SA’s biggest betting agency from the TAB to UBET.

The two-year deal will lift Port Adelaide’s corporate revenue to $12 million this season - three times the corporate profile Power chief executive Keith Thomas inherited in 2012 when he arrived at Alberton as the club’s two major sponsors left the club.

UBET is the fourth “premier partner” the Power has signed since December. It follows the sponsorship deals sealed with the world’s largest dairy company Parmalat (OAK brand), Australian baking giant Patties Foods (Four ‘N Twenty pies) and the RAA.

Thomas has confirmed to The Advertiser the UBET deal will be announced in Sydney tonight.

“The depth of corporate revenue highlights the advances we have made off the field,” Thomas said. “We have put new life into the Port Adelaide Football Club.

“We have changed the narrative about Port Adelaide (from a club on the AFL’s death row) to be seen as a club that open, broader and with a strong engagement with its members. That took time to develop - and now like-minded companies want to join in.”

UBET brand general manager Penny Glasson told The Advertiser the themes used at Alberton to revive the once-tarnished “Port Adelaide” image resonate with the betting agency as it seeks a unified brand across SA, the NT, Tasmania and Queensland.

“We’re regenerating and breathing new life and new meaning into our brand with the launch of UBET - just as Port Adelaide overhauled its image,” she said.

Betting on AFL games outranks gambling on other sports by 20-to-one.

The corporate deal with the Power will involve major promotion of the UBET gaming options with advertising on the LED signage at Adelaide Oval - and an outlet in the club’s “Game-Day Village” on the Memorial Drive tennis courts at the Oval’s southern end.

Thomas yesterday acknowledged the football club’s link with a gambling agency had to be met with a social message against compulsive and addictive betting.

“We are not taking the money and running,” Thomas said. “Betting on AFL games is legal and it is a way some fans find an extra level of fun in football.

“The concern is when it becomes excessive. We are conscious of that issue, so we will deliver a strong social message - not just internally with our players but also to our fans. UBET has the same frame of mind on this.”

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