AFL club Port Adelaide and Port Adelaide Magpies have united in a move designed to ensure the long-term future of both clubs.

The union, confirmed after the a unanimous vote by the Magpies members on Tuesday night brings the two clubs together for the first time since the Power entered the AFL competition in 1997.

The South Australian National Football League (SANFL) had signed off on the deal on Monday in a move it said would provide for a financial windfall of up to $1.9 million each year and reunite the Port Adelaide football community.

The united club will continue to field teams in the AFL and SANFL competitions as well as in SANFL reserves and under-age leagues.

The Magpies will continue to operate as a traditional SANFL club and not as a reserves side for the Power, with Power-listed players still distributed throughout the SANFL clubs.

Power president Brett Duncanson said there was an element of administrative cost-sharing which would create small savings, but the key to the financial benefits was combining the assets held by each club.

"These include our membership and sponsorship bases, as well as the Prince of Wales Hotel, which the Magpies bring to the table but which the Power has the ability to refinance and renovate to become a large revenue-generator," he said.

"There are also new corporate backers in the wings who have pledged significant financial support if the one Port Adelaide initiative comes into effect."

SANFL executive commissioner Leigh Whicker said the merger would benefit both clubs as well as the wider South Australian football community.

"The directors agreed that the one Port Adelaide proposal would result in a financially stronger Port Adelaide Football Club, an underpinning of the Magpies' future in the SANFL competition and a financially stronger SANFL," Whicker said.

"All of these results are critical for the ongoing prosperity of football in South Australia, for which the SANFL is responsible."

Port Adelaide Magpies president John Firth said approving the union was a momentous decision for the Port Adelaide football community.

"We have worked hard to develop this proposal with the Power and the SANFL over the past few months and we are really thankful to have it supported," he said.

"This is a great win for the Port Adelaide football community and we are confident our members will endorse it."

Power chief executive Mark Haysman said the decision would allow Port Adelaide to resolve the brand identity problems which had plagued the two clubs.

"Quite simply, we will now be able to say we are the Port Adelaide Football Club, we were established in 1870," Haysman said.

"We are one club with teams in two competitions - the AFL and the SANFL and we are the only authentic, traditional club to have entered a team into the AFL from outside of Victoria."

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