(US Today) -- A brief power outage sent the Superdome into darkness in the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII.
Less than two minutes into the second half, at 8:37 ET, the lights cut out at the New Orleans dome, briefly delaying play and cutting audio to the CBS television feed.
Phil Simms' microphone cut out mid-sentence while the network was showing a replay and when cameras cut back to a live shot of the Superdome, the bank of lights atop the seats were dark.
As soon as halftime show was over, a smoke alarm started going off inside the press box, in a hallway next to the AFC coaches box. Superdome staff was scrambling to fix the issue during halftime.
Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports