Super Bowl is coming back to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Last time, a Super Bowl was played there, the Harbaugh brothers were fighting against each other. But the older one, John Harbaugh led the Ravens to defeat Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers. But the Super Bowl XLVII blackout stole the limelight. That was unexpected. After a decade, the memories of the game being interrupted are still fresh in Jim Nantz’s mind who was in the TV booth.

Jim Nantz, the HOF announcer, was calling the game that day. He appeared on the January 15 episode of the Dan Patrick Show and gave props to the host for bringing up that topic. Revealing his true feelings, Nantz said, “All of a sudden, all my monitors went this black, complete dark. And in my headset I can’t hear me finishing the call. I was in the middle of a call. So I just thought there was a power surge in the booth. But you know right after that, of course, in a millisecond, you realize the lights are out. The whole thing’s coming down. The whole broadcast is probably off the air.”

The play-by-play announcer then called his staff member Melissa, who informed him about the power outage. However, there were some negative thoughts in his mind as well. He feared that a terrorist group may have attacked them, but that was not the case. The power resumed after 34 minutes. But Nantz made a very good point.

“It took 35 minutes before everything was stored and that overshadowed really what was a compelling game right down to the wire,” he added about the game. The 49ers closed their 28-6 deficit to 34-28 with 2 minutes remaining in the game. They had a fresh set of downs from 10 yards & goal. But Colin Kaepernick failed to find Michael Crabtree, and they lost the game 31-34.

This year too, both brothers qualified for the playoffs. But the Texans eliminated John Harbaugh’s Chargers while Jim Harbaugh took the Ravens to the divisional game against the Bills. It’s a huge game for Jim Nantz too.

Jim Nantz on the verge of a historic achievement

The Bills-Ravens game will settle this season’s MVP debate between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. However, the CBS announcer will also be announcing his 500th NFL game, the first from CBS to do so, and the second overall. Fox’s Kenny Albert completed 500 games for the network in the week 13 game between the Browns and Eagles.

He started his play-by-play announcing career on October 16, 1988, in the game between Colts and Buccaneers. In 1991, he became a part of the regular team of CBS announcers. Between 1994 and 2004, he didn’t announce any game as FOX got the NFL rights. Though CBS became a football network in 1998, he hosted The NFL Today show from 1998 to 2003. Fast forward 2 decades, and he is back at the TV booth.

The divisional game will be his 69th playoff game. With 7 Super Bowls and 20 AFC Championship games, he has been a part of some big moments. The Super Bowl on February 9 will be another such. Hopefully, there will be no power outages this time.