NFL’s backup plan

The NFL says there was a plan B to finish the Super Bowl on Sunday night.

The Superdome had a backup power system that was about to be used during the NFL championship’s electrical outage but it wasn’t needed because power started coming back at that time, Commissioner Roger Goodell said.

The NFL has contingency plans for game interruptions, regardless of the cause.

The 34-minute Super Bowl delay occurred when a piece of monitoring equipment sensed an abnormality in the electrical load feeding the dome, officials have said. But the game wasn’t in danger of being postponed because of the backup system.

“That was not a consideration (Sunday) night,” NFL vice president of business operations Eric Grubman said at a news conference Monday. “That is not what was at play.”

Goodell was sitting with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the game. The Meadowlands will host next year’s Super Bowl.

“We already had the conversation,” Goodell said about avoiding a repeat of the blackout. “This is clearly something that can be fixed, and it’s clearly something that we can prepare for. And we will.”

Super Bowl ratings fall short of record

The Super Bowl fell short of setting a viewership record, but it stands as the third most-watched program in U.S. television history.

The Nielsen Co. said an estimated 108.4 million people watched the Baltimore Ravens’ 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The most-watched events in U.S. TV history were last year’s Super Bowl, seen by 111.3 million, and the 2010 game, with 111 million viewers.

Ravens’ parade to include stadium

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the city’s parade for the Ravens will begin at City Hall today and end with a free celebration at M&T Bank Stadium.

The lineup was still being finalized Monday.

The parade will begin at 10:45 a.m. EST at City Hall, where there will be a new purple, black and white congratulatory banner hanging. The parade will head south on Commerce Street and continue to Pratt and Howard streets.

The stadium celebration begins at 12:30 p.m.