Event Description: Kelly Contract
Source: United Press International
No wonder the Houston Gamblers wanted to keep Jim Kelly's contract quiet -- it's got a clause every quarterback in pro football is going to want.
It says if Kelly, a first-round NFL draft choice of the Buffalo Bills, is among the top three quarterbacks on the USFL statistical tables he will be paid at least as much as the three highest paid quarterbacks in the league.
Kelly's agent Greg Lustig, testifying as an expert witness in Billy Sims' fraud suit against Dr. Jerry Argovitz and the Gamblers, revealed under oath Thursday the previously undisclosed details of the $3.2 million, five-year contract the rookie quarterback signed June 5 with the USFL team.
Argovitz and Houston general manager Gene Burrough negotiated the clause as members of Houston's front office. Three weeks later they acted as Sims' agents when the 1978 Heisman Trophy winner signed a five-year, $3.5 million pact without the clause.
Kelly's contract also had a non-disclosure clause, binding the participants to silence over terms of the pact.
The Miami product missed most of his senior season with an injury but became on one of five quarterbacks taken in the first round of the NFL draft when he was selected by Buffalo last spring.
He received $700,000 at the time of signing in the form of a $500,000 loan and a down payment of $200,000 on his $1 million signing bonus. His base annual pay begins at $275,000 and goes up.
“If he's one of the best quarterbacks in the USFL,” Lustig said, “then he will also be one of the best paid.”
If Kelly makes All-Pro he gets $10,000, he if is MVP of the USFL he earns $25,000, if Houston makes the playoffs he commands $5,000, if the Gamblers win their conference title he gets $10,000 and if wins the USFL title he picks up $15,000.
Story-(UPI)
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