When the lights at the Super Bowl were halted for 34 minutes because of a power outage, we all assumed it was because of Beyonce’s over-the-top electrical performance. And Jay-Z, with his tweet, “Lights out…any questions,” just added fuel to that fire!
VIDEO: Beyonce Shuts Down Super Bowl XLVII With Her Halftime Performance!
But a spokesperson for Entergy New Orleans is speaking out today about what actually caused the Super Bowl Blackout.
Philip Allison, a spokesman for Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the stadium, said power had been flowing into the stadium before the lights failed.
“All of our distribution and transmission feeds going into the Superdome were operating as expected,” Allison said.
He said the outage appeared to originate in a failure of equipment maintained by stadium staff. It occurred shortly after Beyonce put on a 12-minute halftime show that featured extravagant lighting and video effects.
The Baltimore Ravens were leading the San Francisco 49ers 28-6 when most of the lights in the 73,000-seat building went out. Auxiliary power kept the playing field from going totally dark, but the escalators stopped working and the concourses were only illuminated by small banks of lights tied in to emergency service.
“We sincerely apologize for the incident,” Superdome spokesman Eric Eagan said.
He told The Associated Press that Superdome technical staff were working more than an hour after the outage to determine what caused it, but there is no immediate word of why the power went out.
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But what we do know is that the power outage changed the energy of the game and is probably the catalyst for one of the greatest comebacks in Super Bowl history.
The failure occurred shortly after Jacoby Jones returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a 108-yard touchdown, the longest play in Super Bowl history, pushing the Ravens to a commanding lead. But when play resumed, the momentum totally changed.
The Niners scored two straight touchdowns and nearly pulled off a game-winning drive in the closing minutes. They had a first down inside the Ravens 10, but Baltimore kept them out of the end zone to preserve a wild 34-31 victory.
But in the end, Baltimore prevailed despite the short spell of darkness. And the best comeback in history…well that’s still up for debate. As is Beyonce’s role in shutting down all the power. What a night!
SOURCE: Huffington Post
