WebProNews

A newly announced joint venture between Microsoft's search portal and News Corp's Fox Sports offers advanced fantasy football features for free.

Fantasy football players get a new venue from MSN and Fox Sports this fall. The June 28 announcement comes just ahead of the start of NFL training camps.

The big draw will be features that players have to pay for on sites like Yahoo's popular fantasy football one. Premium features such as live scoring, expert analysis, and trade and transaction forecasting will be available from Fox Sports for free.

"Fox Fantasy Football rivals the depth and quality of any fantasy football product available, and it's totally free," said Ross Levinsohn, senior vice president and general manager of FOX Sports Interactive Media.

Called Fox Fantasy Football powered by MSN', it will feature a forecasting analysis engine that can help determine if a proposed trade or roster move will be beneficial or detrimental to a team.

Another exclusive feature will be updates provided by MSN Alerts about action in the league. Customizable alerts on game results, updates, player news, and other topics can be set up for e-mail, MSN Messenger, or even mobile alerts.

Yahoo users of its popular free fantasy football game can pay ala carte for advanced services like real-time scoring, or purchase a Plus option for the season including the advanced features.

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 15.2 million adults in the U.S. participate in fantasy sports leagues, and 12 million adult Americans said they played fantasy football in the past year.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.