If the Chiefs win Sunday and make history with their third Super Bowl title in a row, one of the biggest winners won’t be on the field.
Pat Riley, the NBA coaching legend and current president of the Miami Heat, just happens to own the trademark for the term “three-peat.” He legally locked down the term in 1988 when he was head coach of the showtime Los Angeles Lakers.
“The foresight here is pretty impressive, because obviously, ‘threepeat’ has become a valuable term,” said Alexandra Roberts, a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law.
Roberts explains that Riley’s trademark even includes various spellings.
“Every different iteration of this term that you could imagine, he has registered,” Roberts said.
So if a U.S. team achieves the rarefied air and wins three championships in a row, they may have to pay Riley to use “three-peat” on their championship merchandise, from hats to shirts.
“I understand he’s licensed it a few times in the past for $300,000, $600,000. Putting that in 2025 terms, we’re already well into the millions,” Roberts said.
Earlier this week, CBS News asked Chiefs owner Clark Hunt if he would be willing to pay to put “three-peat” on merchandise.
“We’ve got a very difficult task on Sunday playing a very good Philadelphia Eagles team,” Hunt responded. “If we’re lucky enough to win the game, we’ll worry about the trademark issues.”
Riley himself has never three-peated as a coach or executive. Since he trademarked the term, only a handful of American professional teams have achieved it, including MLB’s New York Yankees, the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, and the WNBA’s Houston Comets.
