In the fourth quarter of the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals’ football game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, a power outage cast the stadium in darkness and interrupted play.
According to Yahoo Sports, the Nov. 8 game was nearly complete, with the Bengals leading 34-17. The Bengals’ running back Samaje Perine was running down the field when the lights cut out, and later the officials ruled that the previous play did not count due to the power outage.
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Santiago Bernabeu Stadium officials jumped into action and power was restored within minutes, allowing game play to continue.
According to USA Today, the in-stadium advertisements and ribbon boards continued to shine despite the lights cutting out, so fans and players had some light to see from. The whole stadium took on a pink glow while officials worked to restore the main lights, which are installed on Santiago Bernabeu’s retractable roof.
An official cause for the power outage has not been publicly announced at this time.
Online, some fans connected the Santiago Bernabeu power outage to the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII power outage that left Lumen Field dark for over 30 minutes. While the Falcons and Bengals’ power outage experience lasted for a much shorter amount of time, it nevertheless represents a rare occurrence in professional football.
