Steelers vs. 49ers Blackout: Power Outage Shouldn't Force Niners to Santa Clara

The San Francisco 49ers may be moving to Santa Clara, Calif. The NFL simply has to approve funding for a new stadium, but one thing that shouldn't come under consideration is the power outage that delayed the start of the Niners' Monday Night Football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the game just a few minutes from getting underway, a transformer exploded outside the stadium, causing a blackout. The game's start was delayed about 20 minutes. That wasn't the end of the craziness, however, as a second, brief power outage delayed the game for roughly 15 minutes early in the second quarter.

This naturally led many to speculate that Candlestick Park, which has been in operation since 1960, simply cannot function as an NFL stadium any longer. While it's true that there are certainly many better facilities throughout the league, Candlestick Park's age had nothing to do with the power outage.

The transformer blowing up was a freak thing, and I think it's safe to say that even a new, state-of-the-art stadium would have had a brief power outage as well. That isn't to say that I don't think the Niners should follow through with their Santa Clara plans, but to showcase the blackout as a reason is ridiculous.

According to Mike Rosenberg of the Mercury News, Santa Clara leaders endorsed the prospective stadium plan, and all that is needed is the backing of the NFL. While the league may very well back the project, and they probably should, I think the power outage is being blown out of proportion.

Blackouts aren't exactly an uncommon thing in California, and the odds are that there will be one in Santa Clara at some point, possibly during a 49ers game down the line. Seeing as the stadium will be new and have the best of everything, though, people won't be able to blame the power outage on that.

The fact that the power outage delayed the game was sort of a novel thing, and it understandably has people talking. When something strange or out of the ordinary happens, however, people sometimes have a tendency to overreact and misplace blame.

That is precisely the case when it comes to what happened on Monday night. Candlestick Park has seen its better days to be sure, and the Niners probably won't be there longer than three years provided the Santa Clara stadium is approved.

Saying that the stadium's age was the reason for the power outage is simply uninformed and reactionary, though. It's beginning to look like a move to Santa Clara is inevitable, but don't make Candlestick out to be more flawed than it actually is.