Pat Riley Strikes Deal With NFL for ‘Three-Peat’ As Chiefs Eye History

After the Chiefs and Eagles punched their tickets to Super Bowl LIX, one of the first commercials following each game was an ad from Fanatics promoting AFC and NFC champions–branded hats, shirts, and other celebratory merchandise.

That will be the case following Sunday night’s game, with the league’s official e-commerce partner looking to sell Super Bowl champion gear to jubilant fans in either Kansas City or Philadelphia.

How Many Pro Teams Have Three-Peated?

If the Chiefs win, it will mark the first time an NFL team will claim three consecutive Super Bowl victories. The Packers were the most recent NFL team to complete the trifecta—but they won three straight NFL championships from 1965 to 1967 (the NFL and AFL completed a merger in 1970). 

• MLB: Yankees (1936–1939)
• NFL: Browns (1946–1949)
• NHL: Maple Leafs (1947–1949)
• MLB: Yankees (1949–1953)
• NBA: Lakers (1952–1954)
• NHL: Canadiens (1956–1960)
• NBA: Celtics (1959–1966), 8 straight
• NHL: Maple Leafs (1962–1964)
• NFL: Packers (1965–1967)
• MLB: Athletics (1972–1974)
• NHL: Canadiens (1976–1979)
• NHL: Islanders (1980–1983)
• NBA: Bulls (1991–1993)
• NBA: Bulls (1996–1998)
• WNBA: Comets (1997–2000)
• MLB: Yankees (1998–2000)
• NBA: Lakers (2000–2002)

While capitalizing on phrases like “three-peat” might seem like a no-brainer, the NFL actually had to strike a deal with a storied sports figure to make that happen.

Inside Pat Riley’s Deal 

For more than 30 years, Basketball Hall of Famer Pat Riley has held trademark rights to several variations of the phrase “three-peat,” even though he never accomplished the feat as a player, coach, or executive. Still, he’s been able to rake in royalties from previous “three-peaters” like the Bulls, Lakers, and Yankees who wanted to use the phrase after winning a trio of consecutive championships.

Now, Riley has an agreement in place with the NFL to use “three-peat” if the Chiefs win, according to sports collectibles news outlet Cllct. It’s unclear how much revenue Riley could make.

If the Chiefs, NFL, or licenses like Fanatics wanted to avoid paying out Riley a percentage of what they earn, there could be another option. 

“If there’s no commercial activity around the trademark, theoretically, if somebody wants to challenge it, somebody can,” trademark attorney Josh Gerben tells Front Office Sports. “And they’d likely win the challenge and they’d likely cancel your registration.”

Riley has obviously not been selling three-peat-branded merchandise in recent years, so Gerben is surprised that he has been able to keep those trademarks active.

“Folks may try to keep the registration active by filing renewals that are required at the [U.S. Patent and Trademark Office] because the filing of renewal keeps something active without requiring a lot of evidence,” Gerben says. “They shouldn’t make those filings, but they sometimes will.”