First, the news, for those who haven’t heard it: OPEN Sports is apparently no longer operating. Navigating to OpenSports.com will deliver you to a Network Solutions “under construction” page. Attempting to visit FantasyLive.com, which OPEN Sports rolled out for the start of football season, won’t take you anywhere.

Many of our readers are probably already aware of this development, and we have been as well since last month. Frankly, there are two reasons that FSB.com has not mentioned the change at OPEN before now:

1) At the time we found out, it appeared that the situation had reached this point long enough prior that many within the fantasy sports industry knew. It seemed like one of those things that we failed to notice in the crunch of football season.

2) We haven’t been able to track down any specific information on what transpired.

OPEN Sports drew immediate attention because it was created by Sportsline founder Mike Levy. It further made a splash by landing a deal to provide fantasy games for FOXSports.com.

FSB.com has yet to inquire with FOX about its plans for 2011 fantasy baseball, and a message on the site’s landing page for that game (as of Sunday night) says: “We are currently preparing FOX Fantasy Baseball for the 2011 season. Please check back in mid-February to join or create a league.”

This update comes as a result of the trickle of e-mails we’ve been receiving over the past month as more fantasy folks become aware of the OPEN situation. We’ll share any further information that might become available.

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

– After two years of canoodling, Yardbarker announced Tuesday that it has been acquired by Fox Sports. In a message on the company’s blog, co-founder Pete Vlastelica said that the deal will “accelerate the growth of the Yardbarker brand” and increase the visibility for its more than 800 member blogs while not impacting the operation of those members. Fantasy outlets within the network include Razzball, Fantasy Daddy, Win My Fantasy League, The Fantasy Fix, The Hazean, Fantasy Football Maniaxs and Fantasy Knuckleheads. Another member site, Five Tool Tool, had this collection of top 10 impact points from the acquisition.

– RotoWire is looking for a “responsible, creative software developer” to lead development of iPhone and Android apps (along with any other mobile app programming). The company is looking for someone with “strong knowledge” of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and other sports, and would prefer a candidate with at least a year of programming experience and an “object-oriented programming language.” The full-time position will be based in Madison, Wis.

– Before he became a state representative in New York — currently seeking election to his first full term — Scott Murphy was part of the team that founded Small World Sports, which he and his partners sold to Vulcan Ventures/The Sporting News.

– 16W Marketing, a firm based in Rutherford, N.J., has created a new company in partnership with several athletes-turned-broadcasters that it represents, including Phil Simms and Howie Long. Among the future possibilities, the company says, are “fantasy sports applications.” The focal point for this venture, at least at the outset, seems to be placing its talent in voice/video spots, including content for the Behind the Mic website operated by Sports Illustrated.

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

According to this article on DailyFinance.com, some major-media fantasy producers report that women are consuming their content and games in ever-increasing amounts.

Frankly, there’s a lack of clarity in the numbers reported, but here are some highlights from the story:

– ESPN.com says average minutes spent on fantasy pages by female visitors rose 7 percent in June. (Unforunately, we aren’t told whether that’s over June 2008 or May 2009.)

– ESPN estimates that 18 percent of the audience for its online fantasy content is female and that its year-over-year female fantasy audience grew in the “low double-digit percentages” in 2008.

– Yahoo! Sports’ David Geller estimates that 12 percent of the fantasy players on his site are women.

The numbers seem to be in line with Fantasy Sports Trade Association-sponsored Ipsos studies that have pegged the female fantasy audience somewhere around 20 percent (though a much smaller portion of the group that actually spends money on fantasy content and games).

The rest of the Daily Finance article jumps around quite a bit and confuses a few things (the FSTA and the Fantasy Sports Association, for instance), but here are a couple of other noteworthy quotes:

– RotoWire president Peter Schoenke: “Yahoo will face tough competition from Fox which has some ’serious building blocks’ such as broadcasting NFL games.”

– Geller, of Yahoo! Sports: “Fantasy sports tend to be recession proof.”

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– In the wake of its deal to put on fantasy games for FOXSports.com, OPEN Sports announced a $4 million round of funding. Investors were not disclosed.

– Restaurant-entertainment chain Dave & Buster’s has put together a promotional package aimed at drawing fantasy football players to D&B for their drafts. The offer page says that the package includes “Free Draft Kit and Fantasy Magazine,” though it doesn’t specify the source. CBSSports.com is mentioned in the promo, but it no longer puts out a print preview magazine.

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