On Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, with an estimated 108.4 million people watching the Super Bowl on live TV, half of the lights in the Superdome promptly and unexpectedly went out. In the ensuing minutes, hours and days, a simple power outage swiftly snowballed into a full-on media-fueled controversy.
It's only been one week since the now-infamous Super Bowl blackout quickly nabbed its apt Twitter hashtag (#SuperBowlBlackout) but, oh, what a week it was — from Superdome officials scrambling to understand what was going on to the FBI ruling out a cyber attack later in the week, Utility Dive is bringing our readers the most comprehensive, chronological and visually-appealing rundown of what happened:
Sunday, Feb. 3: At precisely 7:37 p.m. Central Time (CT), after Jacoby Jones of the Baltimore Ravens has just returned the opening third-quarter kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown to give his team a seemingly insurmountable 28-6 lead, half of the lights in the Superdome go out.
We had a temporary power outage and are working to resolve the issue.
— MBSuperdome (@MBSuperdome) February 4, 2013
As Superdome officials scurry to discover how to get power back to the San Francisco 49er's side of the field, Ravens coach John Harbaugh unleashes a profanity-laced tirade in the general direction of an NFL official.
Meanwhile, without spending $4 million for 30 seconds of nationally televised commercial time, Oreo grabbed the Internet's attention with an impromptu tweet:
Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013
At 7:58 p.m. CT, power at the Superdome is restored and, at 8:10 p.m. CT, play is resumed. Entergy New Orleans, the Superdome's utility, tweets this:
At all times, our distribution & transmission feeders were serving Superdome. We continue working w/ Superdome to address any issues.
— Entergy New Orleans (@EntergyNOLA) February 4, 2013
The 49ers, perhaps buoyed by the blackout, storms back into the game. Alas, their effort is not enough; Baltimore seals the victory with a brilliantly improbable self-induced safety. Moments later, the game ends and the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII.
Monday, Feb. 4: Speculation is rife over what caused the blackout. Entergy and SMG, the group which manages the Superdome, release a joint statement on Facebook with the first concrete information about the power failure. Entergy writes that, shortly after the second half began, a load monitoring system detected an "abnormality" at the intersection of an electrical feed and stadium equipment. The equipment automatically opened a breaker to isolate the problem, causing the half of the stadium's concourse lights to turn off. In another statement, Entergy defends itself, claiming that power was flowing into the stadium at the time of the blackout.
We continue to work with SMG to determine the root cause of the power disruption during last night's game.
— Entergy New Orleans (@EntergyNOLA) February 4, 2013
Until the investigation is complete, any statements on possible causes of the outage are just speculation.
— Entergy New Orleans (@EntergyNOLA) February 4, 2013
Larry Roedel, a lawyer for the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, the state agency which is responsible for Superdome, says the outage does not appear to be related to a recent renovation of the stadium's electrical system, during which decaying feeder cables connected to Entergy's transmission lines were replaced.
Doug Thornton, manager of the Superdome, says that, at the time of the outage, meters registered the Superdome taking in less power than a typical New Orleans Saints game. He adds that the halftime show had nothing to do with the power outage because it had used a separate generator.
The New Orleans City Council, which is the regulatory agency for Entergy, announces it has set an emergency meeting for Friday, Feb. 8. and plans to probe Entergy and SMG on what happened and why.
Meanwhile, Boomer Esiason claims Beyonce's halftime show caused the blackout, saying "Beyonce blew the electric, I'm told."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denies the allegation, saying, "I know it's been out there that Beyonce's half-time show had something to do with it. That is not the case from anything we have at this point."
Additionally, Goodell claims that the power outage won't affect New Orleans' chances of hosting another Super Bowl in the future. Supposedly, backup generators were ready to go when power was finally restored to the stadium.
Peabody Energy sends out a press release implying that the outage could be attributed to reliance on renewable energy resources and encouraging the country to use more coal. Both Fast Company and ThinkProgress publish skeptical responses to Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce's comments.
James Hamilton, an Amazon Distinguished Engineer, writes that he believes the Superdome could have prevented the entire outage for about $10 million.
Tuesday, Feb. 5: Media reports an Oct. 15 memo predicted "a chance of failure" in the stadium's electrical system. Prepared by state officials for the LSED, the memo noted that tests on the stadium's electrical feeders sparked concerns about reliability and revealed "a chance of failure." Shortly afterwards, the decaying feeder cables were replaced.
Entergy announces outside experts will investigate the cause of the Superdome's power failure. Entergy also rules out that a cyber attack was responsible for the outage. An FBI spokeswoman writes that there is "no intelligence to indicate the power outage was the result of a cyberattack or a threat of terrorism of any kind."
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu defends his city's hosting of the Super Bowl, saying, "The 34 minutes of darkness will never overshadow or outshine the city of New Orleans and how we performed this Super Bowl week."
Experts emerge from the woodwork to criticize the country's not-so-smart grid, calling for innovation and investment.
Friday, Feb. 8: Ahead of a scheduled meeting with the New Orleans City Council, Entergy reveals that a faulty relay device caused the now-infamous blackout. The relay was specifically installed in the switching gear to prevent cable failure, which is what led to the blackout. Entergy says it is working with the relay manufacturer to discover why the device malfunctioned. Meanwhile, the relay device has been removed and the Superdome's electrical systems now work without any problems.
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