Just to head off any jokes before we get too far into this post, “tools” refers to Bloomberg Sports’ new fantasy baseball analytics offerings and is not FSB.com’s judgment of the participants …

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.

A roundup of items recently posted on the FSB News page.

– Fantasy hockey content site SchoolYourPool.com has joined Fantasy Sports Ventures’ Fantasy Players Network.

– Fighting Chance Fantasy recently redesigned its site.

– Derrick Eckardt of FantasyEthos.com points out that the fairly favorable Web domain FantasyNASCAR.com can be had, but there are reasons to be wary if you think you want to buy it.

– This blogger thinks a fantasy art-auction league could be viable, where participants would draft artists and then score each time an artist sold a painting via auction house. Hey, who am I to judge? I played a year of fantasy XFL.

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

Anyone shopping for fantasy baseball draft guides this week will find a new entry into the space from an outlet with a familiar name.

For the first time, USA Today has produced a glossy fantasy baseball preview magazine, which was available for sneak peek at last week’s Fantasy Sports Trade Association “experts” draft (and a big help to those of us who might have come less prepared).

“The baseball guide is part of an overall magazine strategy,” USA Today fantasy sports editor Pete O’Brien told FSB.com. “We’re launching a variety of new magazines this year covering several topics. Given USA Today’s national reach and historical importance in the development of fantasy sports, fantasy magazines were a very logical part of the magazine program.”

Entering such a market figures to be a challenge, as multiple existing producers of fantasy magazines target breaking even in cost of production. CBS Sports saw fit in recent seasons to take its preview magazines off the shelves and present them in electronic form only.

Still, the myriad publications that continue to show up must mean that there is money to be made, and it’s tough to find fault with the quality of USA Today’s debut.

In addition to the common features such as player capsules and position rankings, as well as writing from USA Today and fantasy veteran Steve Gardner, the magazine presents articles from a number of reputable fantasy outlets. Writers from KFFL, Baseball HQ, Baseball-Reference.com, Mastersball, RotoExperts, Fantasy Pros 911 and KeeperLeagueGM.com all join the USA Today staff.

It doesn’t take tireless tracking of the fantasy industry to conclude that a fair amount of baseball knowledge resides within that group. What might be less obvious, though, is that every one of those sites is a member of Fantasy Sports Ventures’ Fantasy Players Network.

“Gannett owns a piece of FSV and we are happy to collaborate with them in print, radio and television,” O’Brien said, referring to USA Today’s parent company. “We’ve worked with FSV in football, baseball and basketball for both fantasy and non-fantasy content.”

What this and other forays — O’Brien said a fantasy football guide will show up later this year as well — ultimately mean for the company’s bottom line will remain to be seen. At the least, though, the addition of fantasy magazines shows the commitment to the fantasy sports segment of the business in a dying market for newspapers.

A roundup of items recently posted on the FSB News page.

– FantasyFanatics.com announced Tuesday that Mike Pera, owner of FantasyDraftTools.com, won the site’s inaugural preseason rankings game, which provides Pera an entry into the 2010 World Championship of Fantasy Football field.

– Ready to move on to the next big fantasy regular season but can’t remember when things got going last time? This blogger at FantasyHurler.com has the dates on which the big boys launched fantasy baseball each of the past two years. Looks like CBSSports.com is a solid bet to toe the rubber first.

– For those of us who can’t bear to be separated from the ups and downs of our fantasy football squads come Sundays (and most Mondays, some Thursdays and a few Saturdays) each fall, a convergence of computer, television and mobile phone will soon help keep you in touch (or is that out of touch) no matter what you’re doing.

– The initial report is about a month old, unfortunately, but Fantasy Sports Ventures has teamed up with the U.S. Olympic Committee to develop and distribute a widget aimed at promoting the members of Team USA for next month’s winter Olympics.

– This concept might come closest to embodying a real-life fantasy offering: A Florida businessman wants to build an actual football league around a reality television start. Players would try out to qualify for a spot on the fan ballot, and viewers would select eight teams to then compete for a title. The public would also serve as team owners. Sounds interesting

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