With its Fight for Your Write competition, RotoExperts.com is combining all of that while also encouraging folks to get as familiar as possible with its content.

Here’s the deal, RotoExperts.com is accepting article submissions up through April 2 in which contestants are asked to describe how the sites baseball draft kit helped them. One winner will get a copy of 2K Sports’ Major League Baseball 2K10, an Evan Longoria Fathead Jr. and a Buffalo Wild Wings sweatshirt. That person will also get his or her article published on RotoExperts.com.

“It certainly is a talent search,” RotoExperts’ Scott Engel told FSB.com. “One of our editors has already asked to play the role of Simon Cowell.”

Aside from providing some positive PR for the site and drawing any readers encouraged by the prizes, such a challenge can work like the old Open Pen competitions that Matthew Berry’s TalentedMrRoto.com used to host. There’s certainly no guarantee that the winner (or any entrant) turns into a regular contributor, but it’s worth a shot.

And even if that end of it doesn’t work out, it’s still fun to win some prizes, the first two of which are being provided by 2K Sports.

“Personally, I’m an avid sports gamer and wing eater, so I’m glad we’re doing this,” Engel said.

– Verizon Wireless and the NFL announced a deal Tuesday that will present live football coverage to the handsets of Verizon customers for at least the next four years — including fantasy panacea the Red Zone Channel.

– Switched.com rates the MyFantasyTeams application among the best sports apps available for the Blackberry. Just what Blackberry owners need, another reason to keep staring at the thing.

– A writer for the Hollywood Reporter applied the letter of the well-known (at least around these parts) federal UIGEA law to the common practice of holding Academy Awards pools. His assessment: As long as you stick to the same types of money rules that govern fantasy-games providers, there’s enough skill involved to keep things legit.

– RotoHog has signed on to build a celebrity-based fantasy game for US Weekly magazine.

– Dave Richard of CBSSports.com uses the site’s Tableau-produced analytics to compare value across positions for the past football season.

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).

We managed to overlook the announcement late last week, but in an interesting marketing twist for its fantasy package, Bloomberg has partnered with Fantasy Sports Ventures to put on the 2010 Bloomberg Challenge.

The “challenge” will be a 12-team “experts” league made up of six industry folks and six consumers. MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds (MLB Advanced Media is a business partner of Bloomberg Sports) will join five fantasy sports analysts with FSV ties:

– Ron Shandler of BaseballHQ.com

– Lawr Michaels of Mastersball.com

– Tim Heaney of KFFL.com

– Steve Gardner of USA Today

– Derek VanRiper of RotoWire.com

As for the remaining six slots, Bloomberg is accepting nominations through the end of the day Wednesday (send to BloombergChallenge@bloombergsports.com), consisting of only a brief paragraph about why you should be included. Bloomberg will select six from that group, and the draft will take place Monday night at 8:30. Those chosen will receive free access to the Bloomberg analytics.

The goal here for Bloomberg is obviously to put the value of their new tools on display by showing that they can enable the average fantasy player to compete at the highest level.

“One of the innovative elements of the Bloomberg Sports analytic tools we have developed is that they give everyone a chance to really excel and have fun in fantasy baseball like never before,” Bloomberg product head Bill Squadron said in the media release. “By matching some of the greats of fantasy baseball against six fans, we will find out how our tools can help regular fans play fantasy baseball like the professionals. We believe that the league will generate a great deal of interest and fun while also demonstrating how different the product we have created is in the marketplace.”

Most of us in the fantasy industry, of course, know that the only thing differentiating the “experts” from many fantasy players is the publishing of their opinions. For that reason, it will be interesting to see if Bloomberg gravitates toward less-experienced consumers for this showcase.

Either way, it’s a fun marketing idea and should be a particularly enjoyable opportunity for the six consumers who are chosen.

Beyond that, it’s also another indication of the seriousness with which Bloomberg is entering the fantasy sports space — which can also be read as a testament to this industry’s continuing growth potential.

The deal includes a bit more than one that might make a brand the official underwear of the Chik-Fil-A Bowl. The co-branding agreement positions Yahoo! 2010 baseball as the primary fantasy offering on MLB.com’s fantasy homepage. MLB’s own suite of fantasy games remains, but you won’t find (at least as of Monday afternoon) offerings from past partners such as ESPN or ProTrade.

Aside from the nice-looking “official” tag, partnering with MLB.com provides attractive traffic numbers. Although FSB.com doesn’t have specifics for each company’s subdomains, this quick snapshot of the past year shows MLB.com carrying an audience of about 5 million to 7 million in the buildup to baseball season before jumping to 12 million in April. For comparison’s sake, that represented significantly more unique users per month than (multi-sport) Web heavies ESPN.com and CBSSports.com over the same span.

Beyond the positioning on MLB.com, the partnership also brings to Yahoo! customized player highlights that users can subscribe to for the season for $9.95. The package will offer in-game and post-game highlights of players on your fantasy team and will be available for free preview to Yahoo! fantasy players for the season’s first two weeks.

“We believe this product will exceed fantasy baseball players’ growing appetites for deeper engagement by delivering an immediate, high-quality experience,” MLB.com senior VP of business development Kenny Gersh said in the release.

This marks Yahoo!’s third fantasy partnership with an American professional sporting body. Previous deals made the most-trafficked fantasy outlet the “official” provider of fantasy golf for PGA.com and fantasy hockey for NHL.com.

Fantasy racing folks can now find RotoExperts branded sections on KFFL’s NASCAR home page: Picks and Points, Nationwide Series and Race Recap. Basically, RotoExperts will be providing race preview and wrap-ups for the Sprint Cup series, along with content for the lower-division Nationwide races.

Scott Engel of RotoExperts tells us that his site will also supply KFFL with weekly previews and reviews of English Premiership socceer action and similar weekly coverage of PGA events. There is currently no set ending point for the agreement between the fantasy content sites.

KFFL and RotoExperts each reside within Fantasy Sports Ventures’ Fantasy Players Network. Along with KFFL, Yahoo!, NFL.com, SI.com and USA Today Sports Weekly also syndicate RotoExperts material.

– Mediapost’s OMMA talks fantasy among the fun hobbies that induce serious investments of time and money from participants. The writer talks with Craig Davis of Fantasy Planet for some specifics on our industry.

– Steve Gardner of USA Today takes an interesting look through the 10 most-asked fantasy baseball questions according to Ask.com (and, of course, the answers) — broken down into Part 1 and Part 2.

– Another interesting bit from USA Today’s Steve Gardner: We fantasy folks tend to rely on as much math as possible, particularly when it comes to baseball. But at what point do you go too far for your audience?

– Online Media Daily recently spoke with David Katz, vice president of Yahoo! Mobile North America, to find out more about the company’s mobile strategies. Fantasy, for what it’s worth, came up several times.

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).

Along with the 2010 edition of its fantasy baseball products, CBSSports.com is rolling out in-depth analytical tools — which can be accessed for free on its fantasy news site.

Like in Bloomberg’s case, CBS Sports’ analytics spawned from tools geared toward business analytics. The effort is a collaboration with software company Tableau, which has been around since 2003 and hails itself as the product of combining “an Academy-Award winning professor from the nation’s most prestigious university (Stanford), a savvy business leader with a passion for data, and a brilliant computer scientist.”

CBS and Tableau began talking about the work in mid-2009 and produced some well-received tools for the recently completed NFL season. Of course, we all know that baseball is the game where stat (over?)analysis thrives, so the roll-out for this year’s fantasy baseball campaign sits as the centerpiece.

At the center of that piece is a stat referred to as “RC/27,” which means “runs created per 27 outs.” In plain language, it’s a projection of how many runs a lineup would produce in a single game if a particular player batted in every spot. For example, the rating of National League first basemen that’s sitting on the site as I write this tells me that a lineup of Albert Pujols’ would put up four more runs per game than a whole set of Derrek Lees.

CBSSports.com has tapped “data analyst” Al Melchior to present much of this research and will post new material at least several times a week through baseball season. The data presents other new stats — as well as explanations of their meanings — and the tools within these articles can be customized for different scoring systems and views. The company will also likely look to apply the tools to other sports in the future.

In this highly competitive fantasy games market, it will be interesting to see if CBS’ effort spurs similar undertakings for the other top commissioner engines. At the least, it’s another way for fantasy players to dig deeply into the numbers.

RosterSlots.com still asks you to build the best team, but rather than having you draft one at a time against competitors or fill each position without exceeding a “salary” limit, the site presents a slot machine. You click on the virtual lever, and three players come up at random.

The user gets a certain number of spins to fill a lineup, forcing you to decide whether to keep each set of results or take a chance that your next spin will be better.

Peter Wikander says he came up with the idea about three years ago, bringing the concept to fruition for a closed beta test during the 2009 Arizona Fall League season and then an open beta for the recently concluded Olympics.

“RosterSlots.com combines the randomness of slot machines with the strategy of fantasy game play to provide a transaction-rich casual fantasy baseball game,” Wikander told FSB.com. “I hope to attract everyone from fantasy baseball veterans to casual baseball fans who feel that a traditional fantasy league is too much for them. RosterSlots.com is simple and quick enough that you can play on the side, without making a full-time commitment.”

Although baseball is the game Wikander started with and will fully roll out first this year, his Winter Olympics offering garnered some positive attention — including some space in Nando Di Fino’s online Wall Street Journal column. In that version, users spun to acquire a trio of countries for each medal event, with the same spin rules as baseball.

“People really seemed to like doing this with the Olympics, so I think I’ll do that again in 2012,” Wikander said. “RosterSlots is a nice fit for non-standard, special event-type sports that typically have a concentrated event schedule and a good many unknown ‘players,’ so I think there’s an ongoing opportunity for RosterSlots to provide fantasy games for casual and niche sports fans who are drawn to these types of events.”

Key to his concept is the daily schedule of games — such as in special-event setups like the Olympics and the 162-game Major League Baseball season.

Of course, in an industry constantly having to differentiate itself from gambling, the obvious initial red flag with RosterSlots.com is that it sure looks like gambling. Wikander contends that his model doesn’t fit the existing parameters of gambling and that there is plenty of strategy involved to keep the “fantasy” flag flying.

“In no way does the site operate like a traditional slot machine: There are no odds, no payout, no predetermined winning combinations,” he said. “The slot machine is just a simple, interactive and intuitive platform on which to play out the economies inherent in building a roster. How much of your ‘budget’ do you spend trying to land a superstar? Do you stick with a known entity, or push your luck and risk creating a gap in your lineup? How do you get the most value out of your current assets?”

Increasing the strategy component is the fact that users can trade spin results to others to acquire their unused spins. That’s not exactly the traditional model of fantasy trading, but you’re also not sitting there mindlessly hoping for cherries to show up.

Assuming that Wikander can avoid any gambling-perception issues, the only remaining concern would be building an audience — i.e. giving users a reason to play and keep playing.

Wikander says he doesn’t plan to ever charge for his game and that prizes aren’t currently on the horizon either. He’s hoping to leverage the fantasy player’s love of transactions and build a community that will keep users on board.

In that case, Wikander will likely have to work hard to convince users to bring their friends and family members along to compete. The game is certainly simple enough for anyone to pick up, regardless of their level of fantasy knowledge. With no money or prizes on the line, however, the only allure will lie in beating others.

For that reason, RosterSlots might be ideally suited for short-term events such as the Olympics, professional tennis and extreme sports. That audience will be easier to hold for the duration of a fantasy season. Despite the obvious draw of baseball’s everyday schedule, six months is a long time to hold a consumer’s attention.

Then again, the rise of daily and weekly fantasy games opens up a variety of possibilities for game play here. As with all new concepts in this industry, we’ll see how the audience reacts.

Pickemfirst

Specifically, when a user applies the tool and checks on a particular player, Pickemfirst will not only tell if that player is a free agent but will bring up the most recent blog posts mentioning that player.

As part of including as many different outlets as possible, Pickemfirst has a program that will automatically grab and share your posts — as long as you contact them to be included.

Inclusion is free, and any other questions you might have should be answered here.

We’ve learned that the fantasy sports consumer can be an attractive target for marketers because “he” is devoted to the hobby and willing to spend money. Dave Mitri has been intimately familiar with those facts since launching FantasyTrophies.com about 15 years ago. He took some time out recently to tell FSB.com about building a business around handcrafting trophies for fantasy players … and divulge the identity of his “Armchair Quarterback” inspiration.

1. So, really, who buys a fantasy sports trophy?

I think any fantasy player that really wants to “kick it up a notch” and recognizes a bit of the humor in fantasy sports purchases one of our trophies. Fantasy sports, when you boil it all down, is mainly about bragging rights, having fun and rubbing victory in your buddy’s face. It’s the reason FantasyTrophies.com exists. Playing for a cash prize is nice, but playing for cash and the rights to have your name on a hand-crafted trophy, specifically designed for fantasy, is tough to outdo. Also, let’s face it, the amount of time and energy that we put towards fantasy sports should deserve something in itself. I realized this when I won my league in its inaugural season in 1991 and wanted the trash-talking opportunities to continue long after I spent the cash prize. Leagues everywhere are all the same. Winners love to cherish victory for as long as possible and make the losers boil over with envy. I believe our trophies help to do just that … and then some.

2. How long does it take to create one? How different is the process (and/or processing) today from when you started in “a garage in Cleveland”?

The initial sculpting process can take me months to complete. We then make a mold of the sculpture so that we can pour multiple trophies from that one mold. After that we need to clean up the cast, give it a bronze finish and build the base. Our workforce can fluctuate depending on the season, but usually we can have a trophy from start to finish within a few days. The process itself, since moving to a shop in Brooklyn, hasn’t changed a whole lot from the days I was doing it in my garage in Cleveland. Having heat in the winter though is a nice thing. You can see more of the process at http://blog.fantasytrophies.com/insidelook/.

3. Which design in your current lineup got things started, and what was your inspiration? Your model must be proud.

My cousin Johnny can be credited with posing for the first trophy I ever sculpted: The Armchair Quarterback. He still brags about being my model and displays a trophy in his basement (to the disbelief of his wife). I talked to him about my idea and how I wanted to create something that wouldn’t be mistaken for anything else besides a fantasy football trophy. He was all in. Posing for the Throwback was a little more challenging for him, but he was still game. I’m just glad he didn’t pull something trying to get in that pose. It could’ve been ugly.

4. How did you go about introducing your company and product to the industry and the consumer?

When I first launched FantasyTrophies.com on the web I had no clue what I was doing. I was in college at the time and just thought it would be a cool thing to try and start up. I had my buddy Mario put up a webpage for me and would later realize how lucky I was to get my domain name when I did. Remember, it was 1995 and the Internet was just starting to take off. Leagues mainly found me by just doing searches for trophies. It was pretty barebones at the time.

5. At what point did business really start to pick up? Was there a particular event or promotion that kind of brought everything together?

You know, business really picked up when I finally got the Throwback out there and teamed up with a couple other artists and craftsmen in Brooklyn, N.Y. Having great partners and employees helps with everything. We redid the website and introduced new product — including the Armchair Big Man (basketball), the Armchair Crew Chief (NASCAR) and the Ultimate Loser. We’ve also been fortunate enough to have a few high-profile athletes play for our trophies — including Chris Cooley and Curt Schilling. You can even see Cooley presenting our trophy to CB Fred Smoot at http://blog.fantasytrophies.com/2009/06/chris-cooley-presents-the-trophy/.

We also have some of the top fantasy writers playing for our trophies. Both Gregg Rosenthal of Rotoworld and Dave Richards of CBSSports.com have one of our trophies representing their experts leagues. Being members of the FSTA (Fantasy Sports Trade Association) since 2008 really helps too. Both their baseball and football leagues play for one of our trophies and the contacts we’ve made through them have been a big help.

6. What methods do you use today for getting your product in front of fantasy players? (Besides answering questions for wildly popular industry-news sites.)

We do what any other small business is attempting to do in today’s economy. We try and get the word out through social networking sites, a blog http://blog.fantasytrophies.com/, paid advertising when we can, and by staying creative and open. I believe you have to keep two goals in mind though during the entire process. One is to produce a top notch product that will speak for itself and the other is to have great customer service. People are always willing to spend a few extra bucks if they know your product is quality and that they can count on you in the end. I know I’m doing something right when I have leagues invite me out for beers, if I’m ever in their city, because they appreciate the commitment I have to achieving both goals.

7. You recently launched an affiliate program. What does that entail, and what are your goals for it?

Yes, our affiliate program is new and I’m really excited to get it off the ground. We’re offering 10% of any product sold. That comes out to $37.50 for our best selling trophy: The Throwback. If you have a website and you’re interested you can check it out at http://www.fantasytrophies.com/ft/faq. I think affiliate programs are a great way to get a product like ours out there more and we’re hoping to attract not only larger sites, but also the smaller ones who hopefully see the potential in teaming up with a company like ours.

8. Obviously football is king around the fantasy industry. How do orders for the other sports you treat compare, though? Have you seen growth outside of football? Do you have plans for adding any further sports?

Football is definitely king, and the other sports really don’t even come close. However, I’m hopeful that our other trophies can make a little niche for themselves once they get noticed a little more. Our Armchair Crew Chief has received a great response from racing fans since its release and I think the hockey trophy I’m working on will do the same. I’m excited to be sculpting something new and you can imagine the unique characteristics a hockey trophy can possess. Stay tuned.

9. You offer trophies with big bases to allow for new league-winner plaques to be applied going forward. How much business do you get, though, from leagues that return to buy a new trophy every year?

Getting return customers is an important element to our business. As a result, I recently introduced the Armchair Quarterback Mini. It’s a smaller version of the large Armchair Quarterback. The Mini is our smallest trophy yet and sells for $99. I’ve had numerous leagues say they’d love to have something to hand out each year and a trophy to keep after the large one moves on to another proud recipient. Believe me, it’s tough giving that big guy up, but it should be made a little easier now that the Mini is around. A smaller version of the Throwback is also in the works.

10. There’s an increasing amount of study done on the fantasy sports consumer. What have you learned about “him” through running and growing your business?

I’ve found that players are always searching for ways to enhance their overall experience no matter how established their league may be. Because of this, they’re willing to spend their hard earned dollars, even in these trying times, if they feel they’ve discovered something of quality that will do just that. Also, I know how competitive not only fantasy players can be within their own league, but with leagues themselves. Fantasy players want to feel that their league is top-notch and is better than the league down the block or in the office. They’ll try and differentiate their league from the others by holding their draft at unique locations, having a fantasy league golf outing prior to draft day, or just about anything else to stand out from the crowd. Take it from me; I’ve heard plenty of stories that prove this to be true. Some I can’t repeat. That is also where we come into the equation. A trophy like ours definitely makes a league stand out from the rest.

I’m truly grateful that players and leagues continue to see our trophies as part of their heightened experience.