One of the reasons why the USFL is a league that won't die is because of the collectors. Game-used memorabilia was relatively easy to come by in the mid-80's, thanks to public auctions conducted by some teams, and there were plenty of bargains to be had.

But, over time, supply has obviously diminished and USFL collecting has peaked over the last five years with buyers and sellers crediting the growth of the internet and eBay.

George Arhontakis of Ontario, Canada, who says he has the largest Houston Gamblers collection, hit the motherload when he found a team executive on the online auction site. Arhontakis now has more than 1,000 Gamblers items, including game-used pants and helmets, cancelled paychecks of Jim Kelly and Jack Pardee and even inter-team memos.

"The demand has exploded in the last few years, which in turn has made the prices soar," Arhontakis said.

Ken Buck of Cheraw, S.C., has almost 150 USFL games on tape, including what he calls the holy grail -- two minutes of a game film from an Oklahoma Outlaws game at Skelly Stadium in Tulsa, Okla. Since the Outlaws moved to Arizona after the 1984 season, Buck says he has yet to see any other tape of the Outlaws playing in Oklahoma since he started collecting in the mid-90s.

"If you push the right passion button, price is not a concern for people," said David Malhalab, a former photographer for the Michigan Panthers who sold an Anthony Carter game used USFL ball for $182.50 last week. "USFL items tend to do that for some people."

USFL player autograph collecting was fueled in part by Wingo Sports, which registered the 21 USFL team logos and the league logo for use on mini helmets in the mid-90s.

"There are so many players that had successful careers in the NFL that the interest level is high with collectors," said J.C. Wingo, the company's vice president of sales. "The New Jersey Generals helmets sell well because of Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie and the Houston Gamblers helmets sell well because of Jim Kelly."

USFL collector Paul Reeths says many of his collecting colleagues buy USFL items to recall memories of 1980s.

"When the USFL hit, it was before the era or merchandising or even collecting as we have defined it today," said Reeths, who owns a complete set of USFL media guides from every season. "The beauty of it is that it wasn't so commercialized. You could actually have foam fingers without advertisements on them."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com. He is the author of a new book, "On the Ball: What You Can Learn About Business From America's Sports Leaders."