Category Archives: San Francisco 49-ers

A mere 7:28 from Beyonce to a kickoff return

The Superbowl (Pepsi) Half-time Show
We see Beyonce on stage with a gaggle of backup singers and dancers, looking great and sounding great. Who cares if she’s singing to track? The Who obviously did in 2010, and this year’s theme was actually called “Lipsync.” We have huge I-Mag screens, a ring of fire, thousands of fans with All-Access passes on the field surrounding the stage. No wardrobe mishaps (although we didn’t miss by much).

In case you missed it, click here.

The show ends, we cut to commercials and get ready for the second half.

How long does that take?
Unlike most normal people, I actually ran a stopwatch on the time it took to take down the concert stage, the I-Mag screens and the backline equipment, clear everyone off the field and get ready for the second-half kickoff. (That may sound anal, but there’s a stopwatch on the iPhone, so it’s really easy to do.) From the time they cut away from the concert stage to the time they went to live action for the kickoff, it took a total of 7:28. Seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds to clear all that stuff and all those people off the field, get the teams back on the field and lined up for the kickoff, which resulted in a 109-yard return for a touchdown by the Ravens’ Jacoby Jones.

That is amazing.
How many people does it take to pull that off?

The ironic asterisk
One play after the huge kickoff return, the New Orleans Superdome experienced a power surge that knocked out the juice to major parts of the stadium and resulted in a 32-minute delay in the game. That’s four times as long as it took to clear the stage off the field.