• Pat Riley owns the trademark for the term three-peat
• A Riley team has never three-peated, but the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls did so twice
• Riley has made $300,000 off licensing the phrase to the Bulls
Pat Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers could have completed the elusive ‘three-peat’ in 1989 if they won the NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. Riley rallied Lakers fans with the hopes of a three-peat all year long, even trademarking the phrase in 1988. That trademark has made Riley a lot of money over the years.
While Riley’s Lakers never ended up achieving the feat, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls did. It’s estimated that the Bulls have personally paid Riley over $300,00 in royalties for using the phrase on merchandise over the course of their two three-peats from 1991 to 1993 and from 1996 to 1998.
Riley has presumably made a lot more money from owning the phrase, as the Los Angeles Lakers would end up threepeating without him from 2000 to 2002. His trademark also applies to other sports, including baseball, where the New York Yankees used the phrase to celebrate their World Series wins from 1998 to 2000.
Pat Riley Has Never Used The Phrase For Himself
Riley sought the trademark to use in the celebration of the Lakers’ three-peat in 1989. Unfortunately, that year they ran into the Detroit Pistons in the Finals. They got swept in that series, which led to the Lakers slowly ebbing away from contention in the ’90s.
Riley had another three-peat opportunity in the 2014 Finals with the Miami Heat. Yet again, Riley ended up on the losing end as a terrific 2014 Spurs squad ran over the Heat in five games and won the title.
He’ll hope to bring another threepeat to Miami soon, capitalizing on Jimmy Butler taking them to two NBA Finals in four seasons. Maybe the addition of Damian Lillard will be what brings Riley back to championship success after a decade without winning.
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