Eastern Indoor Football League The Eastern Indoor Football League ( EIFL ) was an indoor American football league that comprised teams located in the Mid - Atlantic and Northeastern United States . Play under the auspices of the league began in 2007 amongst four new teams : the 3 Rivers Rats ( a traveling team ) , Mahoning Valley HitMen , Mid American Buzzards , and Northeast Ohio Panthers . The Lake Erie Steelheads , a fifth team , was to play one exhibition game between the 2007 regular season and playoffs . The league originally announced six franchises , but the Baltimore Blackbirds , Bay Shore Brawlers , and Pittsburgh Ironmen left the league before the start of its first season . The EIFL was unique among current indoor football leagues in that it had sanctioned the use of a white football , manufactured by Thaddea , which makes it easier to see in the artificial lighting conditions . The football had a gold stripe longways around the ball . The IPFL was the only other indoor football league to use an all - white football . The AIFA currently uses a red , white and blue colored football . It was reported that the Bay Shore Brawlers decided to not join the EIFL after taking a look at the ThunderDome , home of the HitMen and site of the EIFL " showcase weekend " , held October 28 - 29 , 2006 . The team applied for the American Indoor Football Association , but was turned down , and so they are taking a year off before they search for another league . Also , only a handful of players from the Mid American Buzzards showed up for the event . The Baltimore Blackbirds joined the American Indoor Football Association for 2007 . Later on , the Mid - American Buzzards , Northeast Ohio Panthers , and the 3 Rivers Rats announced their departure from the league , leaving the Hitmen as the only remaining team . 2007 Season and Problems . The 2007 season started with a pre - season game on January 27 , 2007 . The regular season started the next weekend , on Saturday February 3 , 2007 . On Sunday , February 11 , 2007 , one player on the Mid - American Buzzards was seriously injured in a game . Only after this , the person , and everybody involved with the league and people following the league found out there was no insurance for the players , despite Jim Terry claiming the league had insurance earlier . The insurance company , however , covered the player ' s expenses . On Friday , February 16 , 2007 , the game for that night was cancelled when the building the game was supposed to play at was padlocked due to a lack of liability insurance . The game the next night was played . However , the building owner has started eviction notices on the league and Jim Terry . The game scheduled for Saturday , February 24 was not played amid local media reports that the EIFL had folded . On February 25 , the Warren Tribune - Chronicle reported that the league was down to two teams as the Mid - American Buzzards and Northeast Ohio Panthers had departed over the lack of insurance . Jim Terry , who owned the EIFL and the Mahoning Valley Hitmen , and served as the league ' s commissioner , indicated that the Hitmen might become a barnstorming team . Later on it was reported that the 3 Rivers Rats left the league as well . Since then , no league games has been played although the league had access to the building they play in until the end of the season . Jim Terry had made an offer of $ 10 , 000 on a game for any indoor team to play against the Hitmen , but nobody took the offer , even though Jim Terry claimed otherwise . This league is officially defunct . The Mahoning Valley Hitmen were declared league champions by virtue of having the best record at the time of the league folding .