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In the CBS Sports broadcast booth, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms watched their TV monitors go dark in the blink of an eye.
Down on the field, players from the Ravens and 49ers nervously searched for their wives and kids in the darkening stands.
On the Ravens sideline, the first instinct of Solomon Wilcots was an act of terrorism. The CBS sideline reporter immediately thought of his family.
“I can tell you this. It was total chaos: In my ear, in the truck, in the broadcast,” Wilcots recalled during an interview with Front Office Sports. “If you lose power, what do you do? Run a bunch of commercials? Reruns? Think of it: The entire world is watching.”
Of course, we’re talking about the infamous 34-minute blackout during the 34–31 Ravens win over the 49ers at Super Bowl XLVII.
On Feb. 9, the Super Bowl will return to the former Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the first time since the power outage heard around the world. Heading into the Big Game, power company Entergy New Orleans has told reporters it is confident it won’t happen again after upgrades to the Superdome’s infrastructure. We’ll see.
Before Super Bowl XLVII, there were many good reasons why the game would have gone down in history. It was the last hurrah for Hall of Fame Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. It was the first time brothers faced off as opposing head coaches: John Harbaugh of the Ravens and Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers. Young 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was wowing fans with his dual-threat ability. To top it off, superstar Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child were the halftime entertainment.
But that’s been forgotten, noted Nantz during an interview with The Dan Patrick Show. Instead, the power outage has overshadowed one of the more “compelling” Super Bowls of the past 15 years.
“It was a game that was in the 30s. It was a one-score game. And no one remembers that. All they remember is the night the lights went out in New Orleans,” said Nantz, who remembered the power going out in his headset mid-call.
After racing out to a 21–6 halftime lead, Ravens receiver Jacoby Jones took a kick 108 yards to make the score 28–6. Then it happened. The lights went out at the Superdome. (Ironically, the blackout was later blamed on a relay device installed specifically to prevent a power failure).
As players aimlessly wandered around the darkening field, everybody had their own conspiracy theory.
Many wondered whether it was a terror attack (a fear that came all too true less than two months later with the Boston Marathon bombing). Terrell Suggs of the Ravens thought NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was finagling to stop another blowout, according to ESPN. Jones believed gambling wiseguys in Las Vegas pulled the plug. For the 71,000 fans in attendance, the escalators stopped working; the credit card machines were down; the hallways were illuminated with emergency lights. Bored fans did the Wave to amuse themselves.
Once he got over his shock, Wilcots hit the ground at the “Harbaugh Bowl.” He called the producers in the CBS truck, the command center for any Super Bowl telecast. They had no answers. Ditto for NFL executives and stadium operations personnel. To his horror, it dawned on Wilcots that he was facing the worst of all worlds as a sideline reporter.
“I don’t know what’s worse: Not being able to get on the air. Or—once you’re on the air—not knowing what the hell is going on,” Wilcots said.
If Wilcots couldn’t get the information he needed, he could still cover the Ravens sideline (his CBS colleague Steve Tasker was covering the 49ers on the opposite sideline).
As a former safety for the Bengals, Vikings, and Steelers, Wilcots saw Ravens players losing their focus. So he approached John Harbaugh.
“I said, ‘Coach, this game is going to resume, what are you telling your guys to keep them focused—and stop them from drifting away?’” Wilcots asked. “Coach Harbaugh is a funny man. He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know, what would you tell them?’ I said, ‘You know the guy on the other side of the field better than anybody. Look at him, he’s getting his guys ready. They’re going to make a run …’”
The Ravens coach turned away. But John Harbaugh summoned his players together for a talk, recalls Wilcots. His rallying of the troops may have come in the nick of time.
Just as Wilcots predicted, the 49ers stormed back after the 34-minute delay. Led by Kaepernick, San Francisco scored 17 points in four minutes. But John Harbaugh’s reenergized Ravens defense managed to hang on after a goal-line stand. The Blackout Bowl was over.
A lot has changed in the past 12 years. Neither Harbaugh has made it back to the Super Bowl. John Harbaugh is still coaching the Ravens. Jim Harbaugh, after leading Michigan to the college football title, is back in the NFL with the Chargers. Kaepernick went from the quarterback of the future to a Nike-sponsored warrior for racial and social justice.
Wilcots vividly recalls running into the late, great Stuart Scott in the airport the morning after the game. At the time, the ESPN anchor was dealing with a rare cancer that would claim his life in 2015.
“Stu saw me and said, ‘Hey man, I know how hectic that moment was, you handled it so well. You’re a real pro. I’m proud of you,’” recalled Wilcots, who auditioned with Scott at ESPN. “That was the last time I saw him. Those are the things that come to mind. I think of that moment: How he went out of his way to give me his feedback on my reporting. We all know live television, late-breaking, on-your-feet reporting, when the script is not made for you, is the hardest TV to do. He knew that; I knew that. He thought I handled it well. I was proud of my career at that moment.”
As Scott would say: Boo-yah!
