United Indoor Football United Indoor Football was a United States indoor football league that started in 2005 . Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League , including one expansion ( the Dayton Warbirds , which never played a game in UIF ) and two from arenafootball2 ( af2 ) took their franchises and formed their own league . The league was based in Omaha , Nebraska . On July 22 , 2008 , it was announced that the UIF would be merging with the Intense Football League 2009 season . The merged league is known as the newest incarnation of the Indoor Football League . Field . United Indoor Football was played exclusively indoors , in arenas usually designed for either basketball or ice hockey teams . The field was the same width ( 85 feet ) as a standard NHL hockey rink . The field was 50 yard s long with up to an 8 - yard end zone . ( End zones could be a lesser depth with League approval . ) Depending on the stadium in which a game was being played , the end zones may be rectangular ( like a basketball court ) or curved ( like a hockey rink ) . There was a heavily padded wall on each sideline , with the padding placed on top of the hockey dasher boards . The field goal uprights were 9 feet wide , and the crossbar was 18 feet above the playing surface . Unlike Arena football , the ball was not " live " when rebounded off the nets behind the end zone or their support apparatuses . A player was counted as out of bounds on the sidelines if they came into contact or fell over the boundary wall . Players . Each team fielded eight players at a time from a 21 - man active roster . Ball movement . The ball was kicked off from the goal line . The team with the ball was given four downs to gain ten yards or score . Punting was illegal because of the size of the playing field . A receiver jumping to catch a pass needed to get only one foot down in bounds for the catch to be deemed a completed catch . Balls that bounced off the padded walls that surrounded the field were live . The defending team could return missed field goal attempts that fell short of the end zone . If a free kick struck the ceiling or any object hanging from said ceiling while over the field of play , it was immediately dead and belonged to the receiving team 5 yards from mid - field . Scoring . The scoring was the same as in the NFL with the addition of a drop kick field goal worth four points during normal play or two points as a post - touchdown conversion . Blocked extra points and turnovers on two - point conversion attempts could be returned by the defensive team for two points . A rouge - kickoff downed in the end zone was worth 1 point to the kicking team ; a rogue - kickoff being when the kick returner is caught in his own end zone . A free kick recovered in the end zone by the kicking team was considered a touchdown . Timing . A game consisted of four 15 - minute quarters with a halftime intermission 20 minutes in length . The clock typically only stopped for time - outs , penalties , injuries , and official clarifications . Further stoppages occurred for incomplete passes and out of bounds during the final 90 seconds of the second and fourth quarters . A mandatory official ' s time - out , called a promotional timeout , was assessed after the first and fourth quarters and is 90 seconds in duration . Another mandatory official ' s time - out , called a warning period , was assessed with 90 seconds to play at the end of each half . The game could also be stopped for further promotional time - outs but not exceed 90 seconds per league rules . Overtime rules . Each team received one possession from the 25 yard line to try to score . If one team outscored the other on the possession , the game was over . If still tied after an overtime possession , then each team received a new possession from the 25 yard line to try to score . Championships . UIF ' s championship was known as the United Bowl ; all four United Bowls were won by the Sioux Falls Storm . The United Football League had expressed an interest in the use of the United Bowl name after the UIF - IFL merger , but the Indoor Football League has retained the " United Bowl " trademark and uses it for the name of the United Conference championship . The UFL instead uses the name " The Championship " for its championship game .