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Video: Giants Fans Take Meadowlands Blackout in Stride
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 15, 2010
Modified Nov 15, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 15, 2010
Modified Nov 15, 2010
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A power outage plunged over 80,000 football fans into darkness at the $1.6 billion New Meadowlands stadium last night, halting play twice during the Giants-Cowboys game for a total of 12 minutes during the third quarter. The full blackout lasted less than ten seconds before some emergency lights came back on, but there was at least one altercation during the delay, according to the Daily News. Mark Lamping, CEO of the New Meadowlands Stadium, later told reporters the number of incidents involving security were about "average for a Giants-Cowboys game." (Which means what, scores dead, hundreds maimed?) Here's video of Giants fans reacting to the blackout with signature decorum:
The experience was no less unsettling in the luxury suites, where Curbed founder Lockhart Steele reported from the scene in a series of increasingly harrowing tweets: "Looting, rioting has broken out in luxury box tier 6. Pray for our souls, Bud Lites." "Vital New Meadowlands riot update: power failure of giant bank of lights does not stop PA from blasting 'Even Flow.' " "'Please stay in your seats.' Like hell, dude. Chair has been wedged under door to Suite 626, canned goods hoarded."
"It was scary," defensive end Osi Umenyiora tells the News. "In this day and age, you never know what could have been happening." And Justin Tuck says, "I just sat on the bench and was trying to be still like my mom was always telling me when there was thunder and lightning." And fan Time Kelly tells the Post, "The Giants played like the lights were out all game."
After the game, Lamping explained what happened: "Earlier this evening at right about 6 p.m. we had a transformer that blew at the New Jersey Sports Authority substation. We get our power in the building through the sports authority. When that happened, our systems worked as designed; we actually have two lines coming into the stadium. As the power shifted from one line to the second we had a power glitch that occurred, it switched back to the original first line and power was restored at about 6:15 (P.M). During the entire period we had about 5 seconds where there was no power, that’s basically what happens when the power shifted from our one line coming in to the second. The system worked as designed, you never want to have power problems, it’s not the first time that it’s happened."
So there you have it: This isn't the first time this has happened, it will probably happen again, and it shows the system works! In another sign that everything went according to plan, the Giants lost 33-20.
Tagged
blackout
football
giants
new meadowlands
power outage
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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