Power Fails in Superdome During the Big Game
By: Staff
Updated: February 4, 2013
Late Sunday night, Entergy and SMG -- the company that manages the Mercedes-Benz Superdome -- issued a joint statement addressing the loss of power in the middle of the NFL's biggest game. That statement follows in its entirety:
Shortly after the beginning of the second half of the Super Bowl in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, a piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system. 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.
Backup generators kicked in immediately as designed. Entergy and SMG subsequently coordinated start up procedures, ensuring that full power was safely restored to the Superdome.
The fault-sensing equipment activated where the Superdome equipment intersects with Entergy's feed into the facility.
There were no additional issues detected.
UPDATE 8:10 p.m.: The game has resumed. The total delay was 34 minutes and the 49ers have the ball facing a third-and-13 with 13:22 to play.
NEW ORLEANS --A mysterious power outage marred what had, to date, been a near-perfect Super Bowl week for the city of New Orleans.
The power outage stopped the game in its tracks, confounding broadcasters, players and coaches.
The remaining lights provided enough illumination to alleviate any safety concerns, but the incident set the Twitter world afire.
The remaining lights provided enough illumination to alleviate any safety concerns, but the incident set the Twitter world afire.
Officials and coaches huddled as crews worked to re-establish power.
An Entergy New Orleans spokesperson told WDSU the issue was not one related to the company. Philip Allison said service to the stadium was operating as normal, and any problem appeared to be internal.
