“Man makes plans, and God laughs.”

That old saying is as relevant today as it was the last time that the biggest sporting event in America was held in New Orleans.

With 13:22 remaining in the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII, as chips were being dipped in homes across America, keys were clacking in the press box, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was likely entertaining someone with a robust investment portfolio—the lights suddenly went out on the NFL’s plans.

For the Baltimore Ravens, the evening was going better than they could have planned. They were up by 15 points over the San Francisco 49ers at the conclusion of the first half, and had scored touchdowns on three of their five possessions. The second half would open with the late Jacoby Jones taking the kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown to put the Ravens up 28-6.

For Beyoncé, everything went according to plan. For her, the Super Bowl served as somewhat of a redemption weekend after catching some criticism for lip-synching the National Anthem at President Obama’s inauguration 13 days prior. She opened her Super Bowl press conference by singing the anthem live at the podium, and dropped the mic on Sunday with a powerhouse halftime performance. 

Billions of dollars and years of preparation couldn’t prevent a blackout from pausing the Super Bowl. A live television event that, once the viewership was measured, was the third most watched television program in American history.

It left everyone baffled, including members of the media.

“[It was] very strange,” Jim Trotter—a recently-retired NFL reporter who was with Sports Illustrated at the time—tells BET. “I think everyone was kind of trying to figure out what was going on and why.”

For Solomon Wilcots, working as a sideline reporter for CBS that evening, his mind went to the worst place, telling ESPN’s Jamison Hensley in 2022 he was concerned the outage was a terrorist attack.  

USA Today’s Jarrett Bell was working on three stories at the time. With an extremely tight postgame deadline, he wasn’t panicking—he was working. However, one thought did cross his mind regarding his safety in the then-40-year-old Superdome.

"That main press box, there’s one elevator that no more than 10 people can get in,” Bell tells BET. “For the Super Bowl, what they do is walk down the ramps all the way to the floor. You go down the concourse ramps and you’re with fans.”

“It wasn’t like we were getting constant updates,” Cliff Brown, then with The Sporting News and now with BaltimoreRavens.com, says. “I probably think that we didn’t know much more than people watching on TV”

And since the media had many of the same questions as the 110 million-plus watching on CBS, some of their humor mirrored what was being said in many living rooms across America.

“[There were] jokes that Beyoncé short-circuited the Super Bowl,” Trotter says.

Unfortunately, what was said in jest by many was apparently believed by some. But anyone connecting the singer to the outage likely ignored the fact that the halftime show used a separate power source. Ironically, a malfunctioning device from New Orleans’ energy company—meant to prevent power issues—caused the outage. 

Per WWLT, in 2013, the CEO for Entergy New Orleans power company told the city council that the device signaled for a “switch to open when it should not have, causing the partial outage.”

Proper precautions were taken, and yet the NFL, CBS, and New Orleans still took an L on America’s biggest stage. 

When the doors open to what is now the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, the inside will look much different than it did the last time that it hosted the biggest sporting event on earth. A $500 million-plus renovation was completed just prior to the 2024 season, preparing the nearly 50-year-old building for this season’s Super Bowl. However, no number of new nuts, bolts, or luxury boxes will erase what happened on Feb. 3, 2013.

It is highly unlikely that the game will be delayed for 34 minutes again because of a power outage. Still, no one cut the power on purpose the last time. Anything can happen—even on America’s biggest stage—proving that no plan is foolproof.