PRESSURE continues to mount on the Stadium Management Authority to lower food prices at Adelaide Oval, with Port Adelaide chairman David Koch urging fans to buy pies on the way to games.
Overlooking Adelaide Oval on Friday, Koch announced that Patties Foods – maker of the Four'N Twenty pie – had joined Port as a premier partner for the next three years.
Their logo will appear on Port's AFL shorts and on the SANFL jumper.
The Victorian pies aren't sold at Adelaide Oval and won't be in 2015, with local brand Balfours recognised as the stadium's pie of choice.
But with the SMA refusing to follow in the footsteps of the MCG and Etihad Stadium and lower food prices, Koch said fans could buy a cheaper Four'N Twenty pie outside the venue.
"Balfours have the rights to sell pies within the ground so that won't change but if people want a Four'N Twenty on the way to the game at a lower price that's their decision," Koch said.
"This is the year of the fan … that's up to different stadiums to [offer fans value].
"We have no say in what they sell within the stadium.
"Anyone in the sports/entertainment industry, whether you're a club, a stadium, a merchandise operation, knows that in this day and age you've got to provide value."
Although the price of food and beverages won't deviate from the SMA's October, 2014 model, patrons are allowed to bring their own food and sealed bottled non-alcoholic drinks to games.
The SMA also said it offered free filtered water at bars and in parent rooms.
The move by Port to sign a Victorian pie manufacturer over South Australian brands Balfours and Vili's will raise eyebrows in Adelaide.
Koch denied the local brands were snubbed, though, insisting it was their decision to ignore the Power and not vice versa.
"We're not ditching a South Australian brand; both Balfours and Vili's were given the opportunity to invest in us – they didn't share our vision," he said.
"We're a national brand and they didn't see the same commercial opportunity in Port Adelaide as Four'N Twenty does.
"We've got to get over this South Australian narrow focus; we play footy on a national stage, commercially we've got to play on the national stage too."