Officials with Entergy, the utility company supplying power to the Superdome, say the power outage during the Super Bowl occurred when sensing equipment detected an "abnormality'' in the system.

A statement from Entergy and the Superdome said Sunday that a piece of equipment monitoring electrical load sensed the abnormality and opened a breaker, partially cutting power.

The statement said backup generators kicked in before full power could be restored.
 
The game was delayed for 34 minutes.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu issued a statement that read, "The power outage was an unfortunate moment in what has been an otherwise shining Super Bowl week for the City of New Orleans.  In the coming days, I expect a full after action report from all parties involved."

The biggest broadcast event of the year was suddenly jolted by silence and darkness when a portion of the Super Dome in New Orleans lost power early in the game's second half. CBS' announcers, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, were part of the outage and unable to explain the situation to viewers.

That led to an awkward, ambient few moments in a broadcast that's otherwise nonstop noise.

Eventually, CBS sideline reporter Steve Tasker announced the problem of a "click of the lights" to viewers. Later, the halftime crew anchored by host James Brown returned to fill the time with football analysis.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)