• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 29, 2012

The Outdoor Channel took a swing Friday with a promotion giving baseball fans premium outdoor real estate. Fans spent the night on the Chicago White Sox home field as the channel sought to raise awareness about its availability in Chicago.

The promotion was co-sponsored by cable operator Xfinity and had fans pitching tents on U.S. Cellular Field along, while the away game against the New York Yankees was available on the JumboTron.   

Later in the summer, the network will have an “Outdoor Channel Night” at the stadium for a home game. Mark Zona, host of an Outdoor Channel fishing show, will throw out the first pitch. The first 20,000 fans attending will get a camouflage White Sox hat.

Network CEO Tom Hornish stated that it’s a “high-exposure marketing opportunity that creatively touches outdoor and baseball sports fans.”

The White Sox are in first place in their division, but rank 25th out of 30 teams in average attendance this year with 22,500 per game.

Outdoor Channel has been available on a digital preferred tier on the Xfinity system in the Chicago market since last August. In May, the network said its total distribution increased to 37.8 million homes per Nielsen.

Its parent company recently announced it would try to sell its non-core business that operates aerial cameras at sports events, perhaps a reason its share price was trading near a 52-week high at $7.31 Friday.

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