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The company anticipates the game drawing a load of about 12 Mw of electricity — about 70% of its max capacity. To put that in perspective, the Super Bowl's energy consumption is similar to powering roughly 7,000 New Orleans homes.
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NEW ORLEANS – With Super Bowl LIX just around the corner, New Orleans' energy provider is assuring NFL fans and the city that its power system is ready to handle the big game.
"We have more power than we are going to need for this event," an Entergy New Orleans spokesperson told FOX Weather ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs-Philadelphia Eagles matchup on Feb. 9.
The company anticipates the game drawing a load of about 12 Mw of electricity — about 70% of its max capacity.
To put that in perspective, the Super Bowl's energy consumption is similar to powering roughly 7,000 New Orleans homes, and it matches the energy used during each of the three Taylor Swift concerts at the Superdome last fall.
"We treated that concert weekend like a tabletop exercise for the Super Bowl, and our systems performed as planned – delivering reliable power without incident," Entergy said.
Prior to that, in 2023, the Superdome hosted a Beyoncé concert that drew a load of about 15.6 Mw, also without incident.
"We have been planning for this high-profile event for over a year, and we are confident our system and our teams are ready to deliver," Entergy said. "We are confident that we have the manpower and equipment in place to respond quickly and safely to potential outage events outside the Super Bowl footprint, should the need arise."
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The Caesars Superdome is being prepared for Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome on January 16, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
This year, the 50-year-old arena hosts its eighth Super Bowl, a milestone tinged with memories of the 2013 game. That contest, between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, was famously interrupted by a partial power outage.
With 13:22 left in the third quarter, the lights went out, plunging part of the Superdome into darkness and bringing the game to a 34-minute standstill. Despite the disruption, the Ravens ultimately prevailed, 34-31.
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Despite efforts to protect the game from the elements, there have been instances where the Super Bowl conditions have been less than ideal.
While power was restored within seconds, Entergy said the metal halide lights in use at the time required a 25-minute warm-up period, causing the game delay. The Superdome’s recent $500 million renovation included replacing these lights with LEDs, which come on instantly, eliminating the warm-up issue.
Entergy assured FOX Weather that the cause of the 2013 partial outage has been resolved, with necessary repairs and upgrades completed. The protection relay equipment responsible for the incident is no longer in service.
"Just like a circuit breaker works in your home, the switch operated as designed and opened a breaker to isolate the issue, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome," the energy provider said.
The Super Bowl will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on FOX.