The National Football League, the Superdome and a utility investigating the cause of a power outage at one of the world's most-watched and meticulously planned events, on Monday exonerated the halftime show from blame in the Super Bowl mishap.

With more than 108 million Americans watching along with television viewers in 180 countries and regions, about half the stadium lights went dark early in the second half of the game, in which the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31.

The 35-minute disruption came moments after performer Beyonce lit up the Superdome with a halftime spectacular that officials said was powered by generators and would not have sapped the stadium's electricity.

"There's no indication at all that this was caused by the halftime show," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters on Monday. "I know that's out there, that Beyonce's halftime show had something to do with it. That is not the case from anything we have at this point."

The Super Bowl ranks with the Olympic Games and soccer's World Cup among the most planned sporting events in the world, and viewership is so intense that advertisements costing $4 million for 30 seconds on US TV are considered part of the show.

"The halftime show, as the commissioner said, was running on 100 percent generated power, which means it was not on our grid at all," said Doug Thornton, senior vice president of SMG. "These are things that we actually drilled for."

Reuters