Goodell: New Orleans 'terrific,' despite blackout

"Let me reiterate again what an extraordinary job the city of New Orleans has done," said Goodell, speaking Monday at a post-Super Bowl media conference held for the game's most valuable player, Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, and winning coach John Harbaugh. "The most important thing is to make sure people understand it was a fantastic week."

New Orleans has hosted 10 Super Bowls, including Baltimore's 34-31 victory over San Francisco, tied for the most with Miami.

While serving as the site of America's biggest sporting event and focus of an unofficial national holiday gets any place a lot of attention, this game had special meaning for New Orleans.

The city last hosted the Super Bowl in 2002 and officials were hoping this would serve as the ultimate showcase — on a global scale — of how far it has come since being devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm winds tore holes in the roof of the Superdome and there was water damage from the rain that affected electrical systems and caused mold to spread. More than $330 million has been spent to upgrade the facility, which has hosted the annual Sugar Bowl, Saints games, two BCS title games and a men's Final Four since the storm.

Yet the loss of power was an embarrassment that quickly became perhaps the signature moment of the Ravens' win.

Goodell said not to worry.

"I do not think this will have an effect on future Super Bowls in New Orleans," he said. "I fully expect to be back here for Super Bowls. I hope we will be back. We want to be back here."

Local officials have said they will bid to host an 11th Super Bowl in 2018 to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the city's founding. Goodell made it sound like that is still in play.

"This will not affect the view of the NFL of the success of the game here in New Orleans," Goodell said. "We know that they have an interest in future Super Bowls and we look forward to evaluating that. Going forward, I do not think this will have an effect at all on what I think will be remembered as one of the great Super Bowl weeks."

Goodell said he had no concerns about the adequacy of the Superdome going forward because "this is clearly something that can be fixed and it's clearly something we can prepare for and we will."

For Goodell, it seemed, it was important to recognize how much fans and the league's business partners enjoyed dining at the city's renowned restaurants, attending parties in the home of Mardi Gras, and the ease of moving around with everything centrally located downtown.