Sports | Super Bowl Super Bowl Blackout Explained at Last Power company takes responsibility By Kevin Spak Posted Feb 8, 2013 10:44 AM CST Copied Fans and players wait for power to return in the Superdome, Feb. 3, 2013, during an outage in the second half of Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) Power company officials revealed today the cause of the infamous Super Bowl blackout, and took full responsibility for it. A faulty relay device designed to prevent a failure in the Superdome's electric cables was apparently to blame, the AP reports. Entergy New Orleans officials said they were replacing the device, but added that it had worked fine in previous large-scale events, like January's Sugar Bowl. The Superdome has a direct line to Entergy, but it splits into two cables in a building called "the vault" near the stadium. Apparently the switching mechanism is what broke. Entergy's explanation comes on the same day it's scheduled to appear before regulators to explain itself. Read These Next Now we know why Ghislaine Maxwell may have opened up to the DOJ. South Park episode on Trump may be a real 'mess' for him. We knew Letterman would pipe up about Colbert eventually. The sheriff says he's never seen a worse case of child sex abuse. Report an error