"We are going to do everything humanly possible (to ensure) we do not experience an event like this again," Rice said.

An SMG official emphasized to the panel that the power failure had nothing to do with SMG's recent efforts to replace the cables that feed electricity from Entergy's connection points to the dome.

The Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, a state agency that oversees the Superdome, had approved spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace the feeder cables. The SMG official said Friday that the cables were replaced because they were 15 years old, and that SMG doesn't "see any way (the cables) were involved in this."

The electrical outage at the Superdome set off a storm of social media amusement among viewers and inspired advertising tweets with blackout twists.

Carmaker Audi took a swipe at its competitor, tweeting that it was sending "LED lights" over to the dome, which is officially named the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

But for the picturesque Super Bowl host city -- perpetually concerned with its reputation, especially since Hurricane Katrina -- the power failure broadcast to the world was a huge embarrassment.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu promised that night there would be answers soon.

Clarkson, pressing for a third-party examination of the cause, emphasized that the city intends to bid for the 2018 Super Bowl.

"We are in contention for 2018," Clarkson said. "(An outside test) is clearly imperative ... to defy the naysayers that could be arising around the country to say that we shouldn't have this (Super Bowl)."