Chiefs will have to pay NBA’s ‘Godfather’ to use ‘three-peat’ on merchandise if Patrick Mahomes leads them to 3rd straight Super Bowl
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are on the verge of being the first team in NFL history to win three-straight Super Bowls.
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Pat Riley owns the trademark to 'three-peat' which Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are trying to achieve (Image via Imago/X)
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are headed to Super Bowl LIX. This makes it the third straight year they are part of the biggest game in football. Add on to the fact that they have won the last two, a win this time will make them the first team ever to three-peat.
That word was often in use earlier during the season when reporters quizzed Mahomes and Travis Kelce about their motivation to create history. They agreed that even though it was not the only discussion, their subconscious selves had it on their minds.
Since then, talk surrounding the three-peat has died down. No one from the Kansas City Chiefs has spoken about it, nor has the words ‘three-peat’ appeared in any media brief from the back-to-back Super Bowl winners.
The reason the word three-peat and its variations have disappeared from Chiefs sound or media bites is because of the NBA’s Godfather, Pat Riley. The current President of the Miami Heat had trademarked the words ‘three-peat’ or ‘3-peat’ and its variations back in 1988.
Pat Riley, current president of the Miami Heat, has owned multiple trademarks of the term 'three-peat' since the '90s 😳
— ESPN (@espn) January 29, 2025
Riley's company, Riles & Company, Inc, currently owns at least six live patents for shirts, jackets, hats, and more 👀 pic.twitter.com/zUJXmw8I0f
Therefore, if the Kansas City Chiefs do end up winning their third straight Super Bowl, they will have to broker a deal with the nine-time NBA Champion executive. Else they will not be able to sell those much sought-after memorabilia using those words or terms.
Chiefs will have to pay Pat Riley a lot to use ‘three-peat’
Pat Riley trademarked ‘three-peat’ and its variations in November 1988. Since then, the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, and the New England Patriots have come close to being the first-ever team in the NFL to do so.
Neither of them had to cough up anything to the 79-year-old NBA executive since they never achieved the feat. But as per Finance Monthly, had any of those teams made history, they would have paid anywhere between $300,000 to $600,000 in fees.
However, in this post-pandemic world where prices of everything have gone through the roof, expect Pat Riley to rake in millions. If Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs win their third straight Super Bowl, it will be a landmark in football history.
Therefore, the demand from fans wanting to purchase merchandise and memorabilia will go through the roof. Expect the Chiefs to set aside millions in earnings to send to Miami as no matter how hard they try, they cannot bypass this legislation.
When Pete Carroll won three-straight college championships with USC, a Los Angeles group tried to trademark ‘three-Pete’. However, the feisty Pat Riley contested that filing and won. It seems the Godfather could eventually earn a good deal from the NFL.
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Joseph Varghese
(2377 Articles Published)