The Miami Heat executive first trademarked the phrase in 1988

If the Kansas City Chiefs become the first NFL team to win three Super Bowls in a row on Sunday, Pat Riley has a chance to make some money.

That’s because the former NBA player, coach and current Miami Heat executive owns six trademarks to various forms of “Three Peat,” giving him rights to the use of the phrase on everything from apparel to jewelry to his latest two filings — on backpacks and beverages.

Riley’s trademark attorney John Aldrich told cllct on Tuesday that there is an agreement in place with the NFL to use “Three Peat” if it happens. Aldrich would not comment on what percentage royalty Riley would make, but did say plans are, as has been in the past, to earmark it for the Pat Riley Family Foundation.

When reached Tuesday, a league spokesperson said the deal, which is not yet formally signed, would be with the Chiefs, not with the league.

Current licensees that would make product once a deal is struck, the spokesperson said, would be Fanatics, New Era, Wilson, Riddell and Wincraft.

The products would exclusively be sold at Chiefs retail.

Riley first filed for “Three Peat” at the start of the 1988-89 season, right after the Los Angeles Lakers, who he coached at the time, won their second championship. Riley never cashed in on “Three Peat,” as the Detroit Pistons beat his Lakers the next year.

Four seasons later, however, Riley got paid when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their third straight title in June 1993 and became the first NBA team to win three in a row since the Celtics did it in 1966.

Jordan leaving to play baseball provided a gap that allowed Riley to cash in again when the Bulls won three straight from 1996 to 1998. The phrase was used on merchandise for the New York Yankees “Three-Peat” in 2000 and again when the Lakers finally did it from 2000 to 2002.

Although Riley will make some money, reports in the last week that he could make millions are extremely exaggerated, one source in the licensing industry told cllct. Licensees usually pay a 10% to 15% royalty on the wholesale price of an item.

A $30 hat or T-shirt is $15 wholesale, which means that Riley would make $1.50 to $2.25 per item, meaning that roughly 50,000 pieces would have to be sold to even make $100,000 in royalties. The highest priced item that could have “Three-Peat” on it would be fan championship rings, though the royalty percentage on those would likely be lower.

For a long time, it was believed that Lakers guard Byron Scott was the one who first said the word “Three-Peat” at the Lakers second victory parade. But, as recounted in the book “Showtime,” it was another Lakers guard — Wes Matthews — who claims he came up with “Three-Peat.”

For that entire season, local street vendors in Los Angeles had been selling T-shirts with the phrase, but Riley made his own that he wore to practice and, by the time the Lakers were in the 1989 NBA Finals, he had trademarked it.

Although much of what he has made goes to the foundation, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t spend money to preserve it. In 2005, a group of USC fans tried to get the trademark to “Three-Pete,” a tribute to Pete Carroll, coach of USC, who had won two straight titles.

The trademark office ruled it was too similar to Riley’s. They too were jinxed, losing to Texas in the championship game.

Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country’s leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.