If the Kansas City Chiefs triumph and become the first team to win three Super Bowls in a row, a Miami Heat owner might make some big bucks on it.
Legendary NBA coach and Miami Heat president and minority owner Pat Riley has made a lot of great decisions in his career. After his own time as a player he led the Los Angeles Lakers to four championships and the Miami Heat to one as their head coach, and then two more in Miami as team president. He was head coach of an NBA All-Star Game team nine times.
And, back in November of 1988, Pat Riley trademarked the term ‘three-peat’ and its variations after the Lakers seemed to be heading to one in the NBA Finals. They didn’t make it, losing to the Detroit Pistons, but trademark No. 1552980 was granted to his company, Riles & Company Inc.
That means anyone wanting to make commercial use of the term on highly lucrative and sought-after post-game jerseys, shirts, hats and other memorabilia — such as, say, an NFL football team that won Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024 — would have to cough up.
Has Pat Riley made money from ‘three-peat’ before?
The Chicago Bulls pulled off a three-peat twice, winning three consecutive championships in 1991, 1992 and 1993 and again in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
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‘Each time, Pat Riley benefited significantly,’ Finance-Monthly.com reported, saying that he received approximately $300,000 in licensing and royalty fees in 1993 and nearly $600,000 in 1998.
Riley’s company scored again when the Lakers finally did hit their trifecta in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and he has licensed use of the terms since then.
Back in 2006, Riley said he donates much of the licensing fees from the phrase to charity.
Does Pat Riley hold the trademark for ‘three-peat’ or ‘3-peat’?
Through his company, Riley holds the trademarks for ‘THREE-PEAT,’ ‘THREEPEAT,’ and ‘3 PEAT,’ with multiple trademarks for each term for hats, jackets, shirts, collector’s plates, mugs, tankards, jewelry, bumper stickers, decals, pennants, paperweights, posters, energy drinks, sports drinks, water with vitamins, computer bags, backpacks, sunglasses and more.
Previous trademarks for rings, bed linens and blankets, key chains and plaques and cases for digital devices were allowed to drop out of use and were canceled. So was a trademark for ‘Fifteen Strong,’ a phrase Riley used for the Heat in 2006 to emphasize that the team was more than just the two powerhouse players, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Wade.
What does ‘three-peat’ mean?
Originally a sports term, it’s a portmanteau of the words ‘three’ and ‘repeat’ and it refers to a team that wins three consecutive championships or tournaments. Also called ‘3-peat.’
The term has since become wildly popular in all sports championships as well as other, non-sports achievements such as Trevor Noah hosting the Grammys for the third time this year, or Taylor Swift’s latest album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ hitting No. 1 on the charts three weeks in a row.
Who came up with the term ‘three-peat’?
According to Riley, Lakers’ player Byron Scott first used the term in 1988 while talking about the team’s chances in the NBA Finals.