The IFL National Championship (formerly the United Bowl) is the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...

's championship game. It has been played every year since 2009, except for 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The current champions are the

Northern Arizona Wranglers The Northern Arizona Wranglers are a professional indoor football team based in Prescott Valley, Arizona. They are members of the Indoor Football League and play their home games at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley beginning in the ...

, who won their first IFL National Championship in 2022, their second season in the league. The

Sioux Falls Storm The Sioux Falls Storm are a professional indoor football team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Storm joined the original Indoor Football League as an expansion team in 1999 as the Sioux Falls Cobras, and first took the field for the 2000 ...

won six straight United Bowls from 2011 to 2016.

History

The IFL continued to use the "United Bowl" name originally used by

United Indoor Football United Indoor Football (UIF) was an indoor football league in the United States that operated from 2005 to 2008. Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League, including one expansion (the Dayton Warbirds, which never played a game in UIF ...

(UIF). The UIF used this name before they merged with

Intense Football League The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football minor league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska. History ...

to form the Indoor Football League. The UIF held United Bowl I, II, III, and IV in 2005 through 2008, with all four being won by the Sioux Falls Storm. Although the name "National Indoor Bowl Championship" was used for the 2008 contest between the UIF and the Intense Football League, the "United Bowl" name continued to be used for the combined league's championship until 2021 when it was rebranded.

2009 United Bowl

The 2009 United Bowl featured the Intense Conference champs, the

Billings Outlaws The Billings Outlaws were a professional league indoor football team based in Billings, Montana. They were a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL), of which they were the 2-time defending champions. They played their home games at Rimrock A ...

, against the upset-minded United Conference champs

River City Rage The RiverCity Rage were a professional indoor football team. They played home games at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri, part of the metropolitan area of St. Louis, Missouri, in past seasons, played in the Scottrade Center in downtown ...

. The game became a scoring onslaught at the start of the first quarter with each team scoring touchdowns. The Outlaws defense snagged a pick in the second quarter which led to another offensive touchdown and a commanding two score lead by halftime. The Rage fought back though, recovering an onside kick at the beginning of the third quarter and driving the ball the length of the field for a touchdown. That would be the closest the game would get for the Rage. The Outlaws would put up just enough points to keep a comfortable lead throughout the fourth and after recovering an onside kick in the last minute of the game, the Outlaws kneeled the ball and took home the crown with a score of 71–62 in a loud, sold-out

Rimrock Auto Arena First Interstate Arena (colloquially known as The Metra) is a multi-purpose arena located at MetraPark, the fairgrounds of Billings, Montana. The arena has a capacity of 8,700 for ice hockey and indoor football games, 10,500 for basketball, and u ...

2010 United Bowl

In the 2010 United Bowl, the

of the Intense Conference took the league championship by defeating the

of the United Conference by a score of 43–34 in front of a sold-out crowd in the Billings Sportsplex (a training facility, used by the Outlaws after their arena suffered storm damage during the Billings tornado).

2011 United Bowl

The 2011 United Bowl was won by the United Conference champion

when they beat the Intense Conference Champion

Tri-Cities Fever The Tri-Cities Fever were a professional indoor football franchise based in Kennewick, Washington. The Fever joined National Indoor Football League (NIFL) in 2005 as an expansion team. The Fever were owned by Teri Carr. From 2005 to 2016, the Fe ...

37–10 on July 16, 2011.

2012 United Bowl

The 2012 United Bowl was a re-match from 2011 and was once again won by the United Conference champion

when they beat the Intense Conference Champion

59–32 on July 14, 2012.

2013 United Bowl

The 2013 United Bowl was once again won by the United Conference champion

when they beat the Intense Conference Champion

Nebraska Danger The Nebraska Danger was a professional indoor football team based in Grand Island, Nebraska, and a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The team was founded in 2011 by Charlie Bosselman as an expansion member of the IFL. The Danger played ...

43–40 on June 29, 2013.

2014 United Bowl

The 2014 United Bowl was a rematch from 2013 and was once again won by the United Conference champion

when they beat the Intense Conference Champion

63–46 on June 28, 2014.

2015 United Bowl

The 2015 United Bowl was a rematch from 2013 and 2014. For the fifth consecutive year the United Conference champion

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...

won the league title with at 62–27 victory over the Intense Conference champion (

). It was Sioux Falls' ninth title in franchise history.

2016 United Bowl

For the sixth consecutive year the United Conference Champion

won the league title with a 55–34 victory over the first year Intense Conference Champion

Spokane Empire Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canadi ...

on July 23, 2016. It is Sioux Falls' tenth title in franchise history.

2017 United Bowl

The Sioux Falls Storm advanced to their eighth consecutive United Bowl but lost to the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

by a score of 50–41. It was the Rattlers first season in the IFL after 25 years in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

2018 United Bowl

The Sioux Falls Storm once again advanced to the United Bowl, their ninth straight. They were defeated by the

Iowa Barnstormers The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines, Iowa) ...

42–38, marking the Barnstormers' first title in the IFL.

2019 United Bowl

The Sioux Falls Storm reached the United Bowl once again, this time their tenth straight. They beat their United Bowl losing streak that started in 2017, and beat the

(a rematch from 2017's United Bowl) 56–53. This was their 11th Franchise Title.

2021 United Bowl

For the first time since 2009, the Sioux Falls Storm did not qualify for the United Bowl. On September 12, the

Massachusetts Pirates The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...

defeated the

37–34 in overtime, earning the Pirates their first title in their first season as a member of the IFL.

2022 IFL National Championship Game

The

struck a deal to rebrand the United Bowl to the IFL National Championship Game for three years. Said games are to all be held at the

Dollar Loan Center The Dollar Loan Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Henderson, Nevada. Built on the site of the former Henderson Pavilion, it is the home of the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League, the Vegas Knight Hawks of the Indoor ...

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

, home of the

Vegas Knight Hawks The Vegas Knight Hawks are a professional indoor football team based in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas. A member of the Indoor Football League (IFL), the Knight Hawks began play in 2022 at Dollar Loan Center. The Knight Hawks are owne ...

. For the first game under the new format, the

defeated the

Quad City Steamwheelers The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The team was founded on September 1, 1999 when the Quad Cities was ...

47–45, earning the Wranglers their first title in their second season as a member of the IFL.

Results

References

{{United Bowl champions United Bowl Recurring sporting events established in 2009 Indoor American football competitions American football bowls 2009 establishments in the United States