Officials from Entergy, the utility company supplying power to the Superdome, said the outage occurred when sensing equipment detected an "abnormality" in the system. A statement from Entergy and the Superdome said that a piece of equipment monitoring electrical load sensed the abnormality and opened a breaker, partially cutting power. The statement said backup generators kicked in before full power could be restored.
FBI special agent Michael Anderson said terrorism was not the cause of the power outage and dismissed reports of a fire as a cause.
In addition, New Orleans Fire Department spokesman Michael Williams said no fire was reported before, during or after the power outage at the Superdome. The New Orleans fire department was called to investigate a smell of gas near the Superdome's elevator No. Pierre said. The elevator was stalled on the seventh floor with people inside. The fire department tried to pry open the elevator from the basement, and it resumed operation after the power returned. Entergy, the main power company in New Orleans, issued a statement saying the outage was not its fault.
Doug Thornton is the senior vice president for SMG, the company that runs the Superdome, but was not available for comment. The NFL issued a brief statement during the game, saying the cause of the outage was being investigated.
As postgame interviews of coaches and players were being held, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league would not be making further comment. During the outage, NFL senior vice president Ray Anderson was seen in a hallway on the ground floor of the dome.
The outage stopped the game, and it also appeared to alter its course. Up until that point, Baltimore had dominated San Francisco.
No one sprinted toward the exits. There was no commotion. Only confusion. The east half of the Superdome still had power, and officials immediately decided that, in order to decrease the amount of power they were still using, they would shut down everything inessential on that functioning side, including the air conditioning.
They communicated via handheld radios and text messages and they carried handwritten notes down flights of stairs. After a deep breath, we knew what to do. Three minutes passed like an eternity—then the public address announcer read from the pre-written script. After seven minutes, he repeated the message. After eight minutes, NFL Control sent a text-message blast to fans who had provided their cell phone numbers for stadium updates. After about 17 minutes, the trapped fans were removed from the elevators.
Officials, meanwhile, scrambled to figure out what had gone wrong. Exactly one half of the Superdome had gone dark—the west side, which is powered entirely by the A feed—and that indicated an issue with the power supply. He yelled into a radio to start the procedure, but Entergy officials, who were at their vault a quarter mile away, interjected: They insisted they could restore power to the A feed instead.
Power had been restored to the A feed after 18 minutes, and then the Superdome went through a system reboot on the west half, like restarting a personal computer. All the while, players milled about, stretching and throwing passes and trying to stay hydrated—anything to block out one of the strangest moments in Super Bowl history.
Ravens guard Marshal Yanda says he and his teammates received little information about the blackout or when play would resume.
Flacco kept his arm loose. For the first time in his career, he scanned the crowd, looking unsuccessfully for his family. He wondered: How is it possible that on the biggest night in sports something like this happens? Following what amounted to a minute delay, the second half resumed and the search for answers continued off the field.
Already Entergy had denied responsibility, posting as much on its Twitter account. Supovitz gathered his staff in NFL Control.
He went around the room, looking for assurances. He came to Thornton last. The 49ers had all the momentum. We were reeling. Grubman, with his engineering and energy background, asked pointed, technical questions of Entergy staff members. Grubman next sped toward the luxury suites to update commissioner Roger Goodell, who wanted the same assurances Supovitz had asked of Thornton. He got the same response. When college all-stars faced off against reigning Super Bowl champs.
First-and-goal, remaining. The lights went off. They got plugged back in, we played the game. Grubman and Goodell discussed the potential public relations fallout and decided to avoid assigning blame. Thornton, meanwhile, received the message around a.
The Baltimore Ravens were leading the San Francisco 49ers when most of the lights in the 73,seat building went out with left in the third quarter Sunday night.
About two hours after the game, won by the Ravens in a thriller, officials revealed that an "abnormality" in the power system triggered an automatic shutdown, forcing backup systems to kick in. But they weren't sure what caused the initial problem. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu called the power outage "an unfortunate moment in what has been an otherwise shining Super Bowl week for the city of New Orleans.
Auxiliary power kept the playing field from going totally dark, but escalators stopped working, credit-card machines shut down, and the concourses were only illuminated by small banks of lights tied in to emergency service. A joint statement from Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the stadium, and Superdome operator SMG shed some light on the chain of events, which apparently started at the spot where Entergy feeds power into the stadium's lines. The problem occurred shortly after Beyonce put on a halftime show that featured extravagant lighting and video effects.
Entergy and SMG will continue to investigate the root cause of the abnormality. There was a slight delay in game action, but some memorable images were created while the bright lights were off.
Take a look at some of the best images here. Sideline reporter Steve Tasker announced to viewers a "click of the lights" as the problem. Later, the halftime crew anchored by host James Brown returned to fill the time with football analysis.
Brown said a power surge caused the outage. He and Simms were off the air for most of the outage. The failure occurred shortly after Jacoby Jones returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a yard touchdown, the longest play in Super Bowl history and pushing the Ravens to a commanding lead.
But when play resumed, the momentum totally changed. All commercial commitments during the broadcast are being honored. Superdome spokesman Eric Eagan apologized for the outage once play resumed, but had no further explanation for the outage. Entergy, the local electric company, said in a message posted on its Twitter account that there were no power issues outside of the Dome, and the "power issue at the Superdome appears to be in the customer's side.
While the power outage at the Superdome was a nightmare for some, it presented a golden marketing opportunity for some brands. Buffalo Wild Wings, Audi, Tide and Oreo were among the brands that used the break in action to engage with their fans during the power outage. The tweet received more than 8, retweets and was favorited more than 2, times. For the 49ers, the break was a way to regroup.
Jim Harbaugh gathered his team and talked about the logistics of where they were on the field and the time left. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs jokingly suggested that Harbaugh may have had something to do with the power outage. Players were asked about it after the game.
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