Three-peat

In sports (especially in North America), a three-peat is winning three consecutive championships or tournaments. The term, a portmanteau of the words three and repeat, originated with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, during their unsuccessful campaign for a third consecutive championship during the 1988–89 season, having won the previous two NBA finals.

Origin and trademark

The term is a registered trademark owned by Pat Riley, the Lakers' head coach from 1981 to 1990. The original owner and assignor of the underlying THREE-PEAT "mark" was Bijan Khezri, former president of P.d.P. Paperon De Paperoni, a Delaware corporation. Khezri submitted in November 1988 a trademark application for the use of three-peat on shirts, jackets and hats. Around that time, the phrase was being used by members and fans of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, of whom Pat Riley was the head coach, regarding the Lakers' quest that season to obtain what would have been a third successive NBA championship. According to Riley, it was Laker player Byron Scott who cited the term in reference to the team's goal for that season.

After Khezri assigned the trademark to Riley, it remained an entity of Riles & Co., the corporate entity of National Basketball Association (NBA) coach Pat Riley. In 1989, Riles & Co. successfully registered the trademark under U.S. Registration Number 1552980. The Lakers did not win a third consecutive NBA championship in 1989, but the Chicago Bulls did in 1993, and Riles & Co. collected royalties from sports apparel makers who licensed the phrase for use on merchandise commemorating that accomplishment.

Riles & Co. subsequently obtained additional registrations expanding the trademark to cover many other kinds of merchandise in addition to apparel. The company then went on to reap additional profits by again licensing the phrase to merchandisers when the Bulls again won three consecutive NBA championships from 1996 through 1998, as well as when the New York Yankees won three straight World Series championships from 1998 through 2000 and when the Lakers won three straight NBA championships from 2000 through 2002. It was the Lakers' second three-peat in franchise history and only their first since moving from Minneapolis. As of 2025, the Lakers are the last team of the four major American professional sports (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA) to achieve a three-peat. Incidentally, Pat Riley was the head coach of the losing teams (New York Knicks in 1992 and 1993, Miami Heat in 1996 and 1997) that were eliminated by the Bulls during their 1991-93 and 1996-98 three-peats of NBA Championships. Phil Jackson was the head coach of the Bulls for both of these three-peats, and serving in that same capacity for the Lakers when they achieved their second three-peat.

While originating in the United States, the three-peat has been replicated all over the world across different sports. In recent times, Spanish association football club Real Madrid notably became the first club of the modern era to win three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles (2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18).

The trademark registration for three-peat has been challenged over the years by those who argue that the term has become too generic in its usage for the trademark to continue to be applicable. However, such arguments have yet to succeed, with the registration continuing to be upheld by the United States Patent and Trademark Office as recently as 2001, in the case of Christopher Wade v. Riles & Co. This challenge documented the transfer of assignment from Khezri to Riles & Co., and upheld the validity of the trademark as originally conceived.

In 2005, a group of individuals attempted to trademark the phrase Three-Pete in anticipation of the (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt that year by the 2005 USC Trojans football team to win a third consecutive national championship. The change in spelling was a reference to the team's head coach, Pete Carroll. However, the Patent Office ruled that the change in spelling was not dissimilar enough from Riles & Co.'s three-peat, and denied the registration. Later that year, U.S.C. fan Kyle Bunch began selling his own "Three-Pete" T-shirts. He discontinued sales once he was notified that he was infringing upon the Riles & Co. trademark.

In popular use

In a comedic context, the same play on words, additionally incorporating the name "Pete", is known to have been used as early as 1930 on the radio program Empire Builders. The episode of that program broadcast on December 29, 1930, featured a trio of singers dubbed "The Three Visiting Firemen: Pete, Re-Pete, and Three-Pete".^[1]

The Oxford English Dictionary credits an Illinois high school senior, Sharif Ford, with the earliest published use of the word in the March 8, 1989, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ford's quote uses the term in a sporting context and serves to provide a clear etymology as well:

The Lincoln High Tigers say they want to "three-peat". "You know, kind of like repeat, except doing it for the third time", senior Sharif Ford said.

Related terms

There have been efforts to come up with a similarly clever name for the potential fourth consecutive championship in the year following a three-peat. But attempts such as quat-row have thus far failed to catch on, and most fans simply use the term four-peat. Since the term three-peat came into usage, however, only one team in major American sports has been able to achieve it – Hendrick Racing/Jimmie Johnson NASCAR team, who won 5 championships in a row.

The wordplay of three-peat is clearer if repeat is stressed on the first syllable; this pronunciation is uncommon outside North America. Other English-speaking people may instead talk of a hat trick of championships, or simply a three-in-a-row.

There are also terms for winning three trophies in the same season:

• Triple Crown and Grand Slam – various sports
• Treble (association football)

The trifecta (also known as a tricast, triactor or tierce) is a concept in gambling in which a bettor successfully guesses the win, place and show in a particular race.