Phil Simms' microphone cut out mid-sentence when half of the power at the Superdome went out, which caused a delay in the game.
- February 4, 2013
AceShowbiz -
The Super Bowl XLVII telecast was marred by a power outage at the Superdome, New Orleans. The lights went out when the Baltimore Ravens were leading the San Francisco 49ers 28-6, sending half of the building in the darkness and silencing the CBS broadcast of the event.
The power outage, which happened in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, caused a delay in the game. CBS switched to the halftime crew anchored by host James Brown to fill the time with football analysis as the CBS booth lost power and Phil Simms' microphone went off.
Players were seen waiting on the sidelines before the game resumed around 30 minutes later. Superdome spokesman Eric Eagan stated, "We sincerely apologize for the incident." The NFL hasn't released an official statement as to what caused the outage, while stadium officials were investigating the incident.
Philip Allison, a spokesman for Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the stadium, said, "All of our distribution and transmission feeds going into the Superdome were operating as expected." He added that the outage was likely caused by a failure of equipment maintained by stadium staff.
