You won’t have to search too far though. You can likely find the information you seek at AOL’s Fan House sports site. The United Football League announced today that AOL’s flagship sports destination will be the exclusive official digital media partner for the UFL’s first season.

"As one of the leaders in online sports coverage, AOL’s FanHouse provides the UFL with a unique platform to promote the League and provide fans with behind-the-scenes access unprecedented in professional football," said Frank Vuono, COO of UFL. "We are excited to have AOL’s FanHouse as an official digital media partner."

FanHouse.com will integrate the UFL into its sports coverage with a UFL navigation tab, a dedicated content area and links to UFL statistics and scoreboards. FanHouse also has the rights to stream UFL games live on its site.

"We are excited to be the exclusive digital media partner for one of sports’ newest professional leagues as they kick off their inaugural season," said Marty Moe, Senior Vice President, AOL News, Sports, and Money & Finance. "We feel the increased professional football coverage on FanHouse will provide an added benefit by rounding out our already robust coverage of pro and college football."

In addition to UFL content appearing on FanHouse.com, FanHouse coverage will also appear on UFL sites and other UFL digital media.

The UFL’s first game between the Las Vegas Locos and the California Redwoods kicks off tonight at 9pm Eastern on VERSUS. It looks like it’s also streaming live on the UFL site. Let’s hope the UFL’s not another XFL.

Along with the rebrand FanHouse will feature columnist Jay Mariotti, Kevin Blackistone and Lisa Olson, who will provide daily commentary and analysis on all things sports related.

AOL says FanHouse will continue its tradition of Super Bowl reporting and will still feature the "Super Sunday Ad Poll," that allows users to watch and vote for Super Bowl commercials.

The launch of FanHouse comes after 12 months of growth and expansion at AOL Sports. Since December 2007, unique monthly visitors to AOL Sports grew 21 percent (from 9.1 million to 11 million), page views surged 142 percent (from 142 million to 345 million), total time-spent increased 65 percent. It is now one of the top five most visited sports sites, according to comScore Media Metrix.

"Over the past year, AOL has had tremendous success in growing its sports audience and FanHouse has become one of the premier brands in online sports media. With the addition growing stable of world-class writers, FanHouse will provide a daily must-read for any serious sports fan," said Marty Moe, Senior Vice President, AOL News, Money & Finance, FanHouse, KOL and Weblogs.

FanHouse blogs, focused on individual professional and college sports teams, will continue to provide users with a place to discuss news and events of their favorite teams.

AOL says FanHouse plans to grow in 2009 and it will launch a number of vertical sites with coverage aimed at specialized sports fans, including a Mixed Martial Arts site among others.
 

The new sports site will be similar to the blog format used on celebrity gossip site TMZ, which is a joint partnership of AOL and Telepictures Productions. Along with the Web 2.0 features the sports site includes sports news, columnists, scoreboards and user-generated video.

Posts on the new AOL sports blog are tagged by topic and team allowing users to find news on topics of interest. The site also incorporates the sports blog the FanHouse on the main sports page where users can exchange dialogue with other sports fans.

"The FanHouse has been our ‘slam dunk’ when it comes to community and this new format leverages this strength to provide users with a dynamic Web 2.0 experience that incorporates our blogs, top industry news, and users’ voices," said Neal Scarbrough, Editor, AOL Sports.

"Unlike other sites, our fantasy sports offerings are entirely free. This year, we have made our feature game, League Manager, among the easiest on the Web, with quick sign-up and free live scoring to make it a simple and comprehensive experience."