One of the most intriguing things to come out of last week’s FSTA conference in Las Vegas wasn’t necessarily part of the agenda.

Actually, I suppose it technically was, as the first instance came when IPSOS’ Aaron Amic presented some data from a Fantasy Sports Association-backed international study his company had done.

“It” is the prospect of more collaboration between the FSA and the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

Although some companies have joined both and plenty of industry folks attend the conferences of each, the FSA and FSTA have operated basically independent of each other. It would be good to see that change, and Vegas provided some evidence that it just might.

In addition to Amic’s research, FSA chairman Rick Wolf took the FSTA podium at one point to formally announce the upcoming Interactive Sports Conference that the FSA will be sponsoring in Las Vegas and offer $50 discounts on registration to FSTA members.

“The FSA understands the value that FSTA brings to the fantasy industry,” Wolf told FSB.com. “Our focus on advertisers, sponsors, brands, their agencies and outside industries is complimentary so it makes perfect sense to work together to maximize revenues and growth in fantasy sports.”

Attempting to fully describe the value that each organization would bring to such a partnership would require speculation well beyond my actual scope of knowledge regarding the associations.

On the surface, though, the FSTA membership and leadership carries a wealth of experience in the fantasy sports industry. It comprises a large number of companies of various sizes, styles and ages. The FSA also brings plenty of industry knowledge — led by co-founder and president Greg Ambrosius — and adds a list of big-name members with ties to major sponsors and advertisers, which one can glean from the agendas of the annual Sports Media Conferences.

“I’ve been trying to work on more collaboration for a long time. Rick Wolf, has too,” FSTA president Paul Charchian told FSB.com. “The FSTA continues to welcome opportunities to work with the FSA.”

Here’s hoping that the work can produce the outcome that both leaders desire, which would benefit all of us who are trying to make a living in this industry.

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

– We provided a short report Wednesday on CBS Sports winning the 2009 football rankings Accuracy Challenge, run by the Fantasy Football Librarian. Well, here’s much more information on the competition and the finishers via the Librarian’s post on The New York Times’ “Fifth Down” blog. A full list of participants can be found on the FF Librarian blog.

– KFFL didn’t win any of the Accuracy Challenge categories but did finish an impressive second in both the baseball and football stat-projection portions. Aside from making sure that everyone was aware of that, KFFL’s Nicholas Minnix took the time to name the various people who have contributed.

– The BlogTalkRadio folks have reason to be happy after their Fantasy Sports Channel took home two Fantasy Sports Trade Association awards at the winter conference in Las Vegas this week.

– I would never classify myself as a “gamer,” so the Blood Bowl concept doesn’t really appeal to me. That isn’t to say, of course, that a gory football game featuring orcs and other fantasy creatures isn’t interesting. It also can’t hurt Kyle Turley to have another league in which he qualifies.

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

It’s no secret at this point that there is expansive growth potential for fantasy sports around the world, but we can’t expect everyone to simply pick up immediately on the style of games we’re used.

This week’s Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference in Las Vegas presented several reasons to believe this. Namely …

– Aaron Amic of IPSOS recounted his tale of trying to collect fantasy sports user data in China, only to have multiple iterations of his line of questions fail to be understood by the audience. In addition to the obvious barriers in lingual and cultural differences, some will simply have trouble grasping the concept of “fantasy” as we know it right away.

– FSB.com learned anecdotally that Chinese gamers present a different set of needs when it comes to entertaining. One attendee who is working within that marketplace told of a culture whose interest will be tough to retain with our usual form of fantasy, which might not offer instant enough gratification.

– Fantasy players in India have reportedly jumped on the concept set forth by Dream11 in its fantasy cricket game, but they stand behind a technological hurdle when it comes to paying for online play. Dream11 owner Harsh Jain said during the conference’s international panel that his country’s system for online credit-card payment has yet to present the level of consumer protection that would allow the public to use it comfortably. That doesn’t impede a free game but is a big and obvious obstacle for any company seeking any level of payment for play. Especially at a time when the micro-transaction model continues to grow in popularity, it’s a problem that we should hope gets fixed.

– An Australian businessman spoke of still needing to explain what “fantasy” is to many potential partners and clients. This is no doubt an issue that has faced fantasy sports proprietors everywhere, yet still a gap that requires a bridge.

– Some popular international sports — cricket and rugby, for example — present sporadic schedules that present challenges in plotting out fantasy games that will hold users’ attention or entice them to return. These sports might have tournaments here and there, as opposed to the continuous seasons that Americans are used to in our major leagues.

Even where fantasy has already begun to emerge, there’s still plenty of room for the style of games to change, grow and expand. FSB.com did a little research on global fantasy-contest outlets in advance of the aforementioned international panel and found the following results:

– Out of 26 fantasy games/outlets reviewed (international soccer suites for ESPN and Yahoo! that contained 11 total games were counted as two outlets), 21 followed salary cap style.

– Four followed pick-em or predictor formats, with just one using league-based competition.

– Only two of the 26 used pay models, with the rest free to play.

We all know that fantasy can be a fun hobby or pursuit and that it has the power to engage any audience that likes sports. There’s little doubt that fantasy can cater to varying sensibilities in a wide range of cultures. Anyone hoping to be the caterer, however, can’t overlook the potential pitfalls.

CBS Sports set forth the most accurate football player rankings in 2009, while Rotohog was tops in stat projections for both baseball and football.

Sara Holladay, the Fantasy Football Librarian, and Donnie Campbell of TheMostCredible.com handed out those awards Wednesday at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference.

CBS topped a field of 48 participants — more than double the entries from 2008 — in the second season of the FSTA’s partnership on the Accuracy Challenge. Fantazzle took home last year’s award.

Rotohog’s wins each came in new categories.

Although the competition is obviously done at this point, Holladay and Campbell welcomed anyone who wasn’t included to submit their 2009 preseason rankings and/or projections now to see how they stacked up.