As KC Chiefs bid for three-peat, they can now use that term thanks to deal with Pat Riley
If the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX for their third straight NFL championship, they will be able to use the term “three-peat” on merchandise.
Front Office Sports reported that the NFL reached an agreement with Miami Heat team president and former longtime NBA coach Pat Riley to use variations of the word “three-peat,” which Riley trademarked in 1988.
Chiefs team president Mark Donovan said Wednesday in New Orleans that the KC franchise and Riley’s licensing company, Riles & Company Inc., have signed a nondisclosure agreement. A league spokesperson clarified the deal is actually with the Chiefs and not the league.
“Riles & Company was a pleasure to work with,” Donovan said. “We’ll be good.”
With the agreement, if the Chiefs become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, they can use “three-peat” on postgame championship merchandise.
The “three-peat” marketing idea originated when Riley was head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Showtime team of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Byron Scott was coming off a second straight NBA championship in 1988, having beaten the Detroit Pistons to become the league’s first repeat champ in 20 years.
Riley has said he heard Scott use “three-peat” during the victory parade, and that’s how the coach labeled the upcoming challenge. Fans chanted “three-peat” at Lakers games that season and the term entered the sports lexicon.
Soon, “Three-peat” T-shirts were being printed in Los Angeles. It was Riley’s agent who came up with the idea of officially coining the phrase.
The Lakers came up short in their quest for three straight titles, but Riley didn’t have to wait long to cash in. The Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls won the NBA Finals three years in a row — twice — during the 1990s.
The New York Yankees won three straight World Series titles starting in 1998, and Riley’s old team, the Lakers, won three straight beginning in 2000.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM with the headline "As KC Chiefs bid for three-peat, they can now use that term thanks to deal with Pat Riley."