49ers Santa Clara Stadium Boosters: Power Outage Won't Happen Here
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) - Boosters of the 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara say a power outage such as the one seen at Super Bowl XLVII at the Superdome in New Orleans could not happen here.
Stadium officials were quoted in a report published Tuesday that the still under construction facility will be powered by two new electrical substations, only one of which is needed. And, if both fail, a third power source is available at the flip of a switch.
As authorities investigate the cause of the 34-minute Super Bowl blackout, documents show Superdome officials were worried in the fall about losing power at the big game.
The authorities warned in an Oct. 15 memo that tests on the dome's electrical feeders showed decay and "a chance of failure."
Subsequently, members of the state commission responsible for the dome authorized spending nearly $1 million on improvements, including more than $600,000 to upgrade the electrical feeder cable system. That work was done in December.
The blackout embarrassed New Orleans just when it was hoping to show the world how far it has come since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But many fans were forgiving, and officials expressed confidence that the episode wouldn't prevent New Orleans from hosting future Super Bowls.
Supporters of New 49ers Stadium Say Super Bowl Blackout Would be Virtually Impossible in Santa Clara
Power will be a big issue as the NFL chooses locations for future big games.
"They tend to cover all the bases when they decide where to locate a Super Bowl," pointed out Larry Stone, Santa Clara County Assessor and South Bay sports booster. "And I assume that this would be an issue, it's terribly embarrassing."
"I would assume that the NFL would be very concerned about this and this possibility, preventing this occurrence in any Super Bowl that they have from here on out," said Stone.
Santa Clara is competing with the Sun Life Stadium near Miami, to host Super Bowl 50, which will be played in 2016.
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