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What used to cost £5 per player will now be absolute free as The Sun announced its Fantasy Football Dream Team product will cost nothing to enter. It’s the first time this will ever occur and may not last beyond the 2011 – 2012 season.
There is a guaranteed prize pot of £660,000 available for the thousands of the best performing teams.
In addition there will be a £25 'Premium' package which gives players access to an exclusive £340,000 worth of extra cash prizes.
Additionally, the Dream Team product will be available to those on iPhone, Android and Facebook.
The Sun announcement comes at a time when its parent company, News International, is being racked by a hacking scandal that forced the shutdown of sister publication News of the World last week.
Katie Vanneck-Smith, Chief Marketing Officer for News International, said:
"We are proud of our bold new strategy for The Sun's £1 Million Dream Team.
"We have two different types of Dream Team customers - the casual gamer and the enthusiast. By making our core product free we are opening up the game to thousands of new casual gamers, giving them the chance to experience the Dream Team game and engage with The Sun's fantastic football content.
"For the more serious gamers we have a top quality premium option available at an affordable price.
"We will be the first fantasy football league game available to play simultaneously across Facebook, iPhone and Android platforms, a sign of our commitment to bringing our world class products to our customers in innovative ways.
"When you combine all of this with our £1m guaranteed cash prize pool, which is the biggest in the world, there is no doubt in my mind that The Sun's Dream Team is the best fantasy football game on the planet."
This development is all the more interesting when one considers that the Murdoch focus has been on charging for premium content in recent years. The News of the World was estimated to have lost half its readership online before shutting down as a result of the “fee-to-read” format.
The Sun's Dream Team is now in its 17thseason. To play, 'managers' pick an 11-man team using a budget of £50 million, based on the values that we have given to each of the players.
Points are awarded by a combination of The Sun's match reporters and statistics during the season depending on how well the players perform in real-life Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup matches.
During the season there are five free transfer windows to make changes to your team and teams with the highest numbers of points win guaranteed cash prizes.
Managers can also play their teams in 'Mini Leagues' where they compete against friends or colleagues. Dream Team offers you the chance to enter into up to five Mini Leagues with the same team.
- Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com
