Campbell's Field was a 6,425-seat

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, United States that hosted its first regular season baseball game on May 11, 2001. The ballpark was home to the Rutgers–Camden college baseball team, and until 2015 was home to the

Camden Riversharks The Camden Riversharks were an American professional baseball team based in Camden, New Jersey, from 2001 to 2015. They were a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not at that time affiliat ...

of the independent

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. The naming rights were owned by the Camden-based

Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...

, which paid $3 million over ten years. Stadium demolition started in mid-December 2018. The park, located at Delaware and Penn Avenues on the

Camden Waterfront The Camden Waterfront, also known as the Central Waterfront, is a commercial and entertainment district in Camden, New Jersey, on the Delaware River south of the Ben Franklin Bridge and north of Port of Camden. The district is characterized by it ...

, featured a commanding view of the

Benjamin Franklin Bridge The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and ...

connecting Camden with

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

across the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

. Views of the Philadelphia skyline could be seen from the right-field grandstand and via "Campbell's Field Cam", a stationary weather camera broadcast on KYW-TV.

History

Ground was broken for the ballpark on June 15, 1999, with former

New Jersey governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

Christine Todd Whitman in attendance. Campbell's Field was funded by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, a loan from the

Delaware River Port Authority The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), officially the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state agency instrumentality created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between the governments of Penn ...

, a grant from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, and private financing obtained by the builder, Quaker Construction. During construction, the stadium was owned by the Cooper's Ferry Development Association. Upon completion, it became the property of Rutgers, which signed a lease with Camden Baseball, LLC to operate the stadium in conjunction with the Atlantic League. The new ballpark involved a $24 million construction project that included $7 million for environmental remediation costs. Prior to construction, Campbell's Field was a vacant, undeveloped parcel of land that historically housed businesses that included the Campbell Soup Company Plant No. 2, Pennsylvania & Reading Rail Road's Linden Street Freight Station, David Baird & Company's lumber mill and Eavenson & Sons’ soap manufacturing company. Campbell's Field opened in May 2001, and was one of the projects designed to spark urban renewal in Camden. The ballpark was honored in 2003 by ''DigitalBallparks.com'' and in 2004 by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' as the "Ballpark of the Year." Campbell's Field was honored with several local awards, including the Camden County Improvement Authority Entertainment Award in 2000, the International Masonry Institute Golden Trowel Award in 2001, the Urban Land Institute's Award for Excellence in 2002, the Downtown New Jersey Excellence Award, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association Good Neighbor Award, and the Distinguished Award for Engineering Excellence given by the Consulting Engineers Council of New Jersey in 2003. In April 2009, Campbell Soup announced that it would continue to have its name on the ballpark at least through 2020. In 2011 Campbell's Field is where the

United States national rugby league team The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league football competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some internat ...

achieved victory in the Atlantic pool of 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifying, booking the nation's first ever

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

appearance. The stadium's financing totaled $35 million in loans and bonds from banks and various state and county public agencies, including the

New Jersey Economic Development Authority The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) is an independent government entity in the U.S. state of New Jersey dedicated to broadening and expanding the state's economic base. The EDA creates public-private partnerships to provide access ...

(which issued a $7 million bond), the

(a $6.5 million loan) and

($2 million). Threatened with foreclosure in 2015 amid millions of dollars in outstanding rental fees, the Camden County Improvement Authority (CCIA) acquired the property for $3.5 million and came to agreement on a 15-year deal with the team to repay the money through ticket surcharges, though the demise of the Riversharks later that year meant that only one payment was made towards that surcharge. While the stadium incurred annual debt service payments of $300,000, the facility brought in $100,000 in annual revenue, mostly from Rutgers University for rental fees for the

Rutgers University–Camden Rutgers University–Camden is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's public research university. It is located in Camden, New Jersey. Founded in 1929 as the South Jersey Law School, Rutgers–Camden began as an amalg ...

Scarlet Raptors baseball team to use the stadium as its home field. In October 2015, after failing to reach an agreement with CCIA on the revised terms of a lease agreement, the stadium's primary professional tenant, the Camden Riversharks, ceased operations. Stadium demolition started in mid-December, 2018. The site was to be redeveloped by spring 2020 as a new athletic complex that will include a home for Rutgers–Camden baseball. Demolition and surface preparation for the new complex was funded by the city of Camden and Rutgers University. Completion of the $15 million athletic complex has since slipped to 2021.

College and Atlantic League baseball

From its opening in 2001 through 2018, Campbell's Field hosted home games for the Rutgers–Camden Scarlet Raptors baseball team. On July 14, 2004, Campbell's Field hosted the Atlantic League All-Star Game. In that 2004 All-Star Game, the North Division beat the South Division, 10–8. Kevin Baez of the Long Island Ducks won the All-Star Game MVP. Attendance was 6,234. Campbell's Field once again played host to the Atlantic League All-Star Game in 2012, when the Freedom Division beat the Liberty Division, 9–5. Fehlandt Lentini of the Lancaster Barnstormers won the All-Star Game MVP. Attendance was 7,619. The ballpark also hosted the 2008

Atlantic 10 Conference baseball tournament The Atlantic 10 Conference basetball tournament, sometimes referred to simply as the A-10 tournament, is the conference baseball championship of the NCAA Division I Atlantic 10 Conference. The top seven finishers in the regular season of the conf ...

, in which the University of North Carolina-Charlotte defeated

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...

in the championship game to win the tournament. The field also hosted the tournament in 2010 and 2011, with Saint Louis winning in 2010 and

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

in 2011. The St. Joseph's University baseball team played six games at Campbell's Field in 2009 and its entire home schedule in 2010. The Saint Joseph's baseball program made the park its full-time home until the completion of its on-campus facility in 2012.

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

played all but one of their conference games at Campbell's Field for the 2014 season, which would be their last season.

Ballpark attractions

As part of its naming rights contract, the concessions at Campbell's Field featured several Campbell's Soup Company products such as V8 beverages,

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

salsa, and

Pepperidge Farm Pepperidge Farm is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's 123-acre farm property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which had been named for the pepperidge tree. A subsidiary of the Camp ...

rolls and snacks. A traditional ballpark menu was also available, with hot dogs produced by the Philadelphia-based

Dietz & Watson Dietz & Watson is an American preparer of delicatessen foods, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History Dietz & Watson was founded by Gottlieb Dietz, a German sausage maker, who developed his skills while working at a meatpacking plant for a ...

Inc. Additional options were available at the Picnic Pavilion, that included items from a local barbecue restaurant called Fat Jack's BBQ. The Flying Fish Brewing Company, based in nearby Cherry Hill, sold beer in the pub area. The Fun Zone was a children's playground. It was hosted by the Riversharks mascot, Finley, and included a carousel and inflatables. Campbell's Field offered multiple seating options for its patrons. The Diamond Café included a gourmet buffet, with a waiting service, and views of the Philadelphia skyline and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The Skyline & Bridge Suites, private rooms available for conferences or meetings, also offered skyline views and catering.

Rugby league

In 2011, Campbell's Field hosted the Atlantic Qualifiers tournament for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

. The competition ran from October 15 to 23 and was contested by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. The United States won the tournament to gain a spot in the World Cup for the first time in its history.

Concerts

On June 16, 2005,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

performed at the stadium during his 2005 North American Tour. On June 5, 2009, Campbell's Field hosted the popular hip-hop artists T-Pain &

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

References

External links

Camden Riversharks: Campbell's Field

Rutgers–Camden baseball

*

* {{Camden, New Jersey Camden Riversharks Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in New Jersey Sports venues in New Jersey Saint Joseph's Hawks baseball College baseball venues in the United States Sports in Philadelphia Delaware River Port Authority Buildings and structures in Camden, New Jersey Campbell Soup Company Rugby league stadiums in the United States Rugby league in New Jersey Tourist attractions in Camden, New Jersey Sports venues in the Delaware Valley 2001 establishments in New Jersey Sports venues completed in 2001 2018 disestablishments in New Jersey Sports venues demolished in 2018 Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct minor league baseball venues