Seconds after a power failure shut down last years Super Bowl game in New Orleans, Bill Laboss phone in New Jersey began vibrating with calls. <\/p>\n
My BlackBerry almost fell out of my pocket, said Labos, who works for the electric utility charged with preventing a repeat of the blackout at this years National Football League championship between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos outside New York City. <\/p>\n
We cant let that happen here, Labos was told by his boss, Ralph LaRossa, president of Newark, New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG)s utility. <\/p>\n
In the 12 months since, Labos has worked with stadium engineers, consultants and New Jersey sports officials to be sure it doesnt. <\/p>\n
Power failures have plagued at least four high-profile sports games including the Super Bowl since 2010, dimming the glow of good feelings such events are supposed to generate for their host cities. More than 108 million people watched the blackout debacle at the New Orleans Superdome. <\/p>\n
We were, in a way, robbed of a celebration of a successful Super Bowl, Doug Thornton, Superdome general manager, said in an interview this month. <\/p>\n
Because the 2013 blackout was blamed on a failed switch, electrical equipment inside and outside the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has been inspected, upgraded, backed-up and tested repeatedly to make sure all systems -- from high-voltage cables to circuit breakers -- are as fail-proof as possible. <\/p>\n
There are redundancies to our redundancies, Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL, based in New York, said in a telephone interview. <\/p>\n
In September, Labos supervised a 12-hour full-power test at MetLife Stadium simulating the Super Bowl. <\/p>\n
Nothing tripped. Were confident we are going to withstand the load, he said. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read this article: <\/p>\n
Super Bowl Power Failure Little Threat, New Jersey Vows<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seconds after a power failure shut down last years Super Bowl game in New Orleans, Bill Laboss phone in New Jersey began vibrating with calls. My BlackBerry almost fell out of my pocket, said Labos, who works for the electric utility charged with preventing a repeat of the blackout at this years National Football League championship between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos outside New York City. We cant let that happen here, Labos was told by his boss, Ralph LaRossa, president of Newark, New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG)s utility Continue reading