RotoExperts founder Ben Ice says that the company is targeting the 2010 baseball season for the return of Fantasy Auctioneer.

“We plan on redesigning the service, making it more stable and more scalable to deliver a lot more drafts than it is currently capable of delivering,” Ice told FSB.com. His company announced the purchase of the auction-draft platform site at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference earlier this week, a deal that had been in the works since June.

Ice said the RotoExperts team will need time to develop the new service, which is why the sights are set on a year from now. He said that a mock version of the football software might be offered in 2009, but the Fantasy Auctioneer site will serve as another gateway for consumers to reach RotoExperts software and draft kits.

The move is part of a larger effort to build a strong presence on the fantasy sports technology front and follows the December acquisition of Diamond Draft fantasy baseball software. Ice said the focus on technology has been part of the plan since RotoExperts was created.

“First, we wanted to establish ourselves as a provider of high quality fantasy content, and we believe we have accomplished that goal,” he said. “We are constantly looking at different products and services to determine where they fit. Fantasy Auctioneer integrates well with our football and baseball software.”

RotoExperts announced the acquisition of FantasyAuctioneer.com on Tuesday morning, the first full day of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association winter business conference, a source has told FSB.com.

Fantasy Auctioneer has been online since 2004 and specializes in auction draft hosting, software and contests. The site won the 2005 FSTA award for best new website and took home the plaques for best draft-style contest and specialty product a year later. It’s business partners have included league-hosting sites RealTime Sports and MyFantasyLeague, as well as many content outlets.

The acquisition follows RotoExperts’ December purchase of Diamond Draft and appears to be in line with the company’s stated goal of adding software and services to its fantasy content.

In announcing the Diamond Draft deal, RotoExperts founder Ben Ice said: “Fantasy drafting software has been an interest of our leadership team since the origins of the company. After building a custom application for the NFL season, we decided that it would be most efficient to acquire an existing product heading into the upcoming fantasy baseball season.”

The same logic would seem to apply in acquiring arguably the Web’s best-known auction tool. Why start from scratch when you can align with an established brand?

Look for more from FSB.com as we try to track down more information on the deal.