The Baltimore Ravens were the proud recipients of the Vince Lombardi trophy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII. However, the most anticipated game of the year was suspended for nearly 35 minutes due to a power outage.
A few moments after the Ravens opened the gap to 28-6 over the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, with 13:22 left in the third period, the Superdome remained without power. The power outage halted the match, during which time there was no electricity for appliances in the press section, and internet access networks operated intermittently.
The public responded in the first moments doing the wave, but desperation came quickly and boos were heard shortly after. The reaction was immediate on social networks, to the point that Twitter was down for a few minutes due to the overhead of publications related to the incident.
The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, took to the field with several officers of the stadium and players from both teams performed exercises to stay active.
At times, the light seemed to return, generating applause from those present in the Superdome, but not fully restored until over a half hour after the incident occurred.
According to Sports Illustrated and a joint statement from Entergy New Orleans, the power outage was caused by,
"A piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system," the statement said. "Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue. ... Entergy and SMG will continue to investigate the root cause of the abnormality."
During the power outage security was fundamental to the organizers of the Super Bowl and the New Orleans police had to face the challenge of the presence of some 150,000 fans who were in town for the Super Bowl just days before Mardi Gras, the traditional festival that attracts thousands of tourists to the French Quarter.
Despite the power outage, the conclusion of Super Bowl XLVII was a thriller and a huge economic boost for the city, which expects revenue of nearly 500 million.
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