Miami Heat president and minority owner Pat Riley could see his bank account expand significantly if the Kansas City Chiefs, who won Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024, defeat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and become the first team to pull off a Super Bowl “three-peat.”
Riley didn’t invent the term three-peat, which he trademarked in 1989 as the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach after overhearing Byron Scott use it before the start of the 1988-89 NBA season. However, he smartly trademarked the term over three decades ago and now controls its commercial rights.
Darren Rovell reports Riley and the NFL have agreed to allow the league to sell merchandise. If the Chiefs win their third consecutive Super Bowl this Sunday, it will be a “three-peat.”
Riley’s trademark attorney John Aldrich told cllct Tuesday there is an agreement in place with the NFL to use “Three Peat” if it happens. Aldrich would not comment on what percentage royalty Riley would make, but did say plans are, as has been in the past, to earmark it for the Pat Riley Family Foundation.
When reached Tuesday, a league spokesperson said the deal, which is not yet formally signed, would be with the Chiefs, not with the league.
Current licensees that would make product once a deal is struck, the spokesperson said, would be Fanatics, New Era, Wilson, Riddell and Wincraft.
Riley owns the trademark for the term despite his teams never winning three championships in a row. According to Sports Illustrated, When the Chicago Bulls won two different three-peats while Riley was coaching the New York Knicks and then Miami Heat, Riley collected royalties.
Riley again collected Royalties when Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers did it again from ’00 to ’02.
If the Chiefs win again, they will be the first NFL team ever to three-peat, but an Eagles win would cost Riley millions.
