ATLANTA – Bloomington native Jamie Erdahl, a rising star at CBS Sports, will be part of Sunday's pregame Super Bowl coverage and then stick around just in case there's another one of those "Beyoncé" moments.
"You never know," Erdahl said. "It's happened."
In 2013, Beyoncé's halftime show took down the power grid in New Orleans. The Super Bowl was suspended for about a half-hour before power was restored. But the CBS show had to go on with reporter Tracy Wolfson filling airtime via backup generator until the action resumed.
"I think the quote to Tracy that year was, 'You're only going to have to go on if the power goes out,'" Erdahl said. "And it happened. And she went on."
Wolfson will work the game as sideline reporter. Erdahl also will help with postgame coverage.
Erdahl, 30, is in her fifth football season at CBS. Now the lead sideline reporter on SEC football, she was asked to work her first Super Bowl.
A 2007 graduate of Breck School, she played basketball and softball at St. Olaf for two years before transferring to American University in Washington, D.C. to pursue a broadcasting career.
After graduation in 2011, she spent about six months in the Twin Cities. She covered high school football CTN Cable Channel 12 in Coon Rapids before moving on to covering Lynx games for Fox Sports North.
The next two years were spent in Boston with New England Sports Network before CBS discovered her.
"It's a dream job, and I have to pinch myself sometimes," Erdahl said. "I know that's the cliché thing to say, but it's valid. I was the girl who was kind of sneaking downstairs on Sunday afternoons to watch the Vikings with my dad instead of doing homework. So this just feels right."
Next up, though, is motherhood — she and husband Sam Buckman are expecting their first child, a girl, on July 1.
"The timing is good," she said. "I'll be back in time for college football season."
