The mystery of how and why their was a black out during the biggest sporting event in America, the Super Bowl, is finally revealed and Entergy New Orleans (the company that supplied electricity to the Super Bowl) took the blame.
Officials from Entergy New Orleans said a device designed specifically to prevent a blackout failed and plunged the game into darkness for more than half an hour, according to Associated Press.
The device called a relay had been installed to protect the Superdome from problems in the cable that links the company's incoming power line with the lines that run into the stadium.
Officials added that the relay functioned with no problems during January's Sugar Bowl and other earlier events. It has been removed and will be replaced, according to Associated Press.
All systems at the Superdome are now working, and the dome was to host a major Mardi Gras event Saturday night, said Doug Thornton, an executive with SMG, the company that manages the stadium for the state, according to Associated Press.
The power failure cause half of the stadium's lights to go out, taking 34 minutes to come back and wreaking havoc on broadcast station CBS, who had to fill time with chatter because without power they couldn't air commercials.
Before the blackout, the Baltimore Ravens were beating the San Francisco 49er by a score of 28-6. The 49ers were deflated and it looked like the Ravens could score at will.
After the power went out and both teams got to rest (whether they wanted to or not) the 49ers were the better team and crawled back into the game.
However, the Ravens held off the 49ers' onsalught to squeak out a 34-31 victory, capturing the Super Bowl title for only the second time since moving to Baltmore from Clevand in 1996--a move known as "The Move."
With the Ravens holding on and winning, both Entergy New Orleans and the NFL dodged a bullet because if the 49ers had won, Super Bowl 2013 would have been known as the "Blackout Bowl"
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
