United Bowl (IFL)

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United Bowl

First played	August 15, 2009
Trophy	United Bowl Trophy
Recent and upcoming games
2021 season
(September 12, 2021) Massachusetts Pirates 37, Arizona Rattlers 34 (OT)
2022 season

The United Bowl is the Indoor Football League's championship game. It has been played every year since 2009, except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current United Bowl champions are the Massachusetts Pirates, who won their first United Bowl in 2021 in their first season in the league. The Storm won six straight United Bowls from 2011 to 2016.^[1]

History[]

The IFL continues to use the "United Bowl" name originally used by United Indoor Football (UIF). The UIF used this name before they merged with Intense Football League 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 continues to be used for the combined league's championship instead.

2009 United Bowl[]

The 2009 United Bowl featured the Intense Conference champs, the Billings Outlaws, against the upset-minded United Conference champs River City Rage. 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.

2010 United Bowl[]

In the 2010 United Bowl, the Billings Outlaws of the Intense Conference took the league championship by defeating the Sioux Falls Storm 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 Sioux Falls Storm when they beat the Intense Conference Champion Tri-Cities Fever 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 Sioux Falls Storm when they beat the Intense Conference Champion Tri-Cities Fever 59–32 on July 14, 2012.

2013 United Bowl[]

The 2013 United Bowl was once again won by the United Conference champion Sioux Falls Storm when they beat the Intense Conference Champion Nebraska Danger 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 Sioux Falls Storm when they beat the Intense Conference Champion Nebraska Danger 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 won the league title with at 62–27 victory over the Intense Conference champion (Nebraska Danger). It was Sioux Falls' 9th title in franchise history.

2016 United Bowl[]

For the sixth consecutive year the United Conference Champion Storm won the league title with a 55–34 victory over the first year Intense Conference Champion Spokane Empire on July 23, 2016. It is Sioux Falls' 10th title in franchise history.

2017 United Bowl[]

The Sioux Falls Storm advanced to their eighth consecutive United Bowl but lost to the Arizona Rattlers by a score of 50–41. It was the Rattlers first season in the IFL after 25 years in the Arena Football League.

2018 United Bowl[]

The Sioux Falls Storm once again advanced to the United Bowl, their ninth straight. They were defeated by the Iowa Barnstormers 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 10th straight. They beat their United Bowl losing streak that started in 2017, and beat the Arizona Rattlers (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 defeated the Arizona Rattlers 37–34 in overtime, earning the Pirates their first title in their first season as a member of the IFL.

Results[]

Game	Date	Winning team		Losing team		MVP	Site	Attendance
2009	August 15, 2009	Billings Outlaws	71	RiverCity Rage	62	Chris Dixon	Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark	8,351
2010	July 17, 2010	Billings Outlaws	43	Sioux Falls Storm	34	Chris Dixon (2)	Billings Sports Plex	2,500
2011	July 16, 2011	Sioux Falls Storm	37	Tri-Cities Fever	10	Chris Dixon (3)	Sioux Falls Arena	4,696
2012	July 14, 2012	Sioux Falls Storm	59	Tri-Cities Fever	32	Jeremiah Price	Sioux Falls Arena	4,901
2013	June 29, 2013	Sioux Falls Storm	43	Nebraska Danger	40	Terrance Bryant	Sioux Falls Arena	5,202
2014	June 28, 2014	Sioux Falls Storm	63	Nebraska Danger	46	Chris Dixon (4) James Terry	Sioux Falls Arena	4,500
2015	July 11, 2015	Sioux Falls Storm	62	Nebraska Danger	27	Brandon Johnson-Farrell	Denny Sanford Premier Center	9,245
2016	July 23, 2016	Sioux Falls Storm	55	Spokane Empire	34	Lorenzo Brown	Denny Sanford Premier Center	9,000
2017	July 8, 2017	Arizona Rattlers	50	Sioux Falls Storm	41	Justin Shirk	Denny Sanford Premier Center
2018	July 7, 2018	Iowa Barnstormers	42	Sioux Falls Storm	38	Ryan Balentine	Wells Fargo Arena
	July 13, 2019	Sioux Falls Storm	56	Arizona Rattlers	53	Lorenzo Brown (2)	Gila River Arena	14,635
2020	Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
	September 12, 2021	Massachusetts Pirates	37	Arizona Rattlers	34	Alejandro Bennifield (1)	Footprint Center

References[]