The NFL has said the incident will not likely diminish the city's chances of hosting another big game.

The general consensus on social media appeared to be that Beyonce's high-wattage half-time performance was mostly likely to blame for the blackout.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell countered the virtual chatter, saying, "There is no indication at all that this was caused by the halftime show, absolutely none."

The blackout triggered calls by industry leaders for the building of a nationwide smart power grid, which could reroute electricity seamlessly in such cases.

This would avoid such public displays of momentary weaknesses in the system, said Andres Carvallo, former chief technology officer at Austin Energy, where he says he built the nation's first smart grid.

On Monday, CBS aired video shot from inside a stadium control room as the outage occurred.

"All right, we lost lights," says a man as the room darkens.