The Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl on Sunday night, but not without some electrical drama. The Superdome blacked out and went dark due to a power overload, delaying the game for more than 30 minutes in the third quarter.
According to the NFL, the outage was due to an unspecified "abnormality" in the Superdome's power system. On Monday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league had an alternative ready in case the blackout continued for longer than it did, saying there was a backup system ready.
News also came out on Monday night that officials at the stadium were aware of a possible issue and were worried about it in advance of the game.
According to ESPN.com: An Oct. 15 memo released by the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District, which oversees the Superdome, says tests on the dome's electrical feeders showed they had "some decay and a chance of failure."
"This is clearly something that can be fixed, and it's clearly something that we can prepare for," he said. "And we will."
The day after the Super Bowl officials at the stadium still were not exactly sure why the abnormality occurred, but league officials said that the game wasn't in danger of being postponed since there was a backup system ready.
"That was not a consideration last night," NFL vice president of business operations Eric Grubman said at a news conference Monday. "That is not what was at play."
The Superdome has gone through extensive renovations over the past few years and all the equipment that was upgraded after Hurricane Katrina worked effectively during the blackout. The halftime show was blamed by some on the internet for the outage, but officials confirmed that the show used its own dedicated generator and wasn't using the Superdome's power supply.
The power went out soon after Jacoby Jones's record-setting kick return touchdown less than two minutes into the third quarter, leaving the Ravens to stew around with a 22-point lead. The 49ers made a great comeback in the third quarter, but fell short at the end, losing 34-31.
The Super Bowl was notable for many reasons apart from the lockout, including that it was the first time two brothers coached against each other and saw the Ravens attempt the first fake field goal in Super Bowl history. San Francisco fell to 5-1 in franchise history in the Super Bowl, while the Ravens are now 2-0 after defeating the Giants in 2001.
Goodell said on Monday that the power outage would not affect any plans to bring the Super Bowl to New Orleans in the future.
"We knew they have an interest in future Super Bowls, and we look forward to evaluating that," Goodell said. "Going forward, I don't think this will have any impact at all on what I think will be remembered for one of the greatest Super Bowl weeks."
Super Bowls and championship games are not usually delayed by issues like the blackout, but it has happened before on an even larger scale. An earthquake hit during the 1989 World Series in San Francisco when the Giants were playing the Oakland Athletics at Candlestick Park and there also was a blackout like what happened in New Orleans in the 1988 Stanley Cup finals.
