In 1880, Port Adelaide moved to Alberton Oval, the club's training and administrative headquarters.
The Port Adelaide Football Club has historically drawn its supporter base in and around historical working class Port Adelaide.
However, this support has spread to many coastal locations in Adelaide, as well as throughout the Adelaide Hills and country South Australia.
After historically being the largest football club in South Australia, Port Adelaide has reemerged as one of the largest sporting organisations in Australia, with over 60,000 members and an average attendance nearing 45,000 in 2015.
In 1994 it was announced that Port Adelaide had won the tender for the second South Australian AFL licence.
However a licence did not guarantee entry and although a target year of 1996 was set, this was reliant upon an existing AFL club folding or merging with another. In 1996, the cash-strapped Fitzroy announced it would merge with the Brisbane Bears to form the Brisbane Lions.
A spot had finally opened and it was announced that in 1997, one year later than expected, Port Adelaide would enter the AFL.
In 2014, Port Adelaide returned to Adelaide Oval as its home ground for the first time since the 1976 SANFL season.
The first AFL game played for premiership points was played in May 2017 between the Gold Coast Suns and Port Adelaide.