Super Bowl Power Outage Stops Ravens vs. 49ers in Third Quarter

Whoever is in charge of the power supply for the New Orleans Superdome must have suffered through some stressful moments on Sunday, as the power from the famed stadium faltered during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. 

With the Baltimore Ravens leading the San Francisco 49ers 28-6 and the 49ers driving with 13:28 remaining in the period, half of the stadium went dark. Check it out in this Bleacher Report GIF: 

As the power went out, CBS' broadcast went silent, leaving viewers to wonder what was going on. The power was out on the press box level. 

The 49ers should be thanking their lucky stars for this outage. It has caused a considerable delay, and the 49ers desperately need something to steal a little momentum from the Ravens. 

San Francisco gained a touch of momentum at the end of the half with a 27-yard field goal by David Akers. However, on the kickoff to start the second half, Jacoby Jones took the ball 109 yards for a score. That was the longest Super Bowl kickoff return in the history of the NFL. 

Also, amazingly enough, this 49ers squad has experience in this kind of situation. During the regular season, the 49ers hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers for a Monday night game—a power outage delayed the start of that one and interrupted play during the contest. 

Beyond the two teams on the field, this is a major embarrassment for the Superdome. The Super Bowl is one of the world's biggest stages. It offers the host city a chance to shine and show off their city and stadium. 

This is not the way for a stadium to make an impression.