Christie: If Lights Go Out At Super Bowl XLVIII, There Will Be Hell To Pay
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Don't expect the lights to go out at MetLife Stadium during Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2.
But if they do, there will be hell to pay, courtesy of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
While at a church in Moonachie, N.J., on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Christie told the audience that in preparation of the Super Bowl being played in New Jersey, he attended last year's big game in New Orleans.
With Jets owner Woody Johnson, Super Bowl Host Committee CEO Al Kelly and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in attendance, Christie told the audience a story about a conversation he had with Goodell at Super Bowl XLVII.
"At the last Super Bowl you'll remember that there was a small glitch in the game?" Christie said, according to ESPN. "When the lights went out? And the lights were out for a while as you'll recall, and so I was with the commissioner, and it's an awkward time. We were there in the dark and he's on his BlackBerry trying to figure out what's going on.
"Finally he turns to me and he said to me, 'You know, Gov, when we come to New Jersey next year, the lights aren't going to go out, are they?'"
The governor didn't offer any guarantees at the time, but he did assure the commissioner that the issue will be taken seriously.
"I said, 'Listen, Roger, I can't guarantee the lights aren't going to go out,'" Christie said, according to the network. "I said, 'But if they do, there will be bodies strewn in the parking lot for the people who are responsible for the lights going out, because that's the way we handle matters in New Jersey.'"
How's that for determination and confidence? Talk about a no-nonsense approach.
"That story is absolutely true," Goodell said, according to ESPN. "He was standing right here when the lights went out, right next to me. And I think he stepped out and he made a phone call to the head of the public utilities here and made sure that's not going to happen this year."
MetLife Stadium passed its power tests recently in preparation for Super Bowl XLVIII.
"The reality is that ever since we came back from New Orleans, power has moved up the list of things we're paying attention to," Kelly said, according to ESPN. "And we've got a lot of experts in helping us. We're doing reviews of equipment, we're building in redundancy, we're doing lots of testing, we're trying to beef up security.
"When things go wrong it's important not only that you fix it, but you learn from it."
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