WJBD - National Sports - Mayor Defends NOLA as Super Bowl Site

National Sports

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans'

mayor has defended the city's role as host after a power outage plunged the

Super Bowl into 34 minutes of darkness, baffling authorities who are bringing

in a consultant to help find the cause.

The outage embarrassed New Orleans as it

sought to showcase its rebound from Hurricane Katrina. Documents show it

occurred despite hundreds of thousands of dollars of recent improvements to

decaying utility lines.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu sought to

put a positive spin on the puzzling power outage at a news conference Tuesday,

saying the city's host role was near flawless until the lights-out episode.

He says

the city plans to bid for Super Bowl 2018. It has hosted 10 Super Bowls, the

last in 2002 three years before Katrina devastated the city.