Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton after throwing an incomplete pass against the Denver Broncos during the third quarter of the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday. REUTERS/Mike Blake Sports Stadium, the tool Facebook built to capture some of the sports-related chatter that happens on its site, had a bad Super Bowl as the hub failed to keep up with the game.

In a statement provided to AdWeek, Facebook said some users experienced technical issues, blaming the "overwhelming traffic and activity" during the Super Bowl.

"Due to overwhelming traffic and activity, people visiting Facebook Sports Stadium during the Super Bowl may have experienced a delay with the scores and play-by-play information available in the Matchup and Stats tabs, or a problem with posting in the Friends tab," the company said.

The 50th-anniversary game, which ended in a 24-10 win for the Denver Broncos, was watched by tens of millions of people, many of whom shared opinions, jokes, and general chatter on social media.

Conversations around sports events, especially ones in the NFL, have historically happened on Twitter, and Facebook wanted to get in on that. Over 28 million tweets were sent during last year's Super Bowl, according to Twitter, up from 24 million in the previous year.

The immediacy of Twitter, driven by Twitter's chronological feed, is part of the reason so many people flock to the service during the game. The New Republic says Sports Twitter, a subsection of the larger network, is "changing the way we watch sports."

For the first 11 minutes of this year's Super Bowl, Facebook had no trending topics related to the event, according to Danny Sullivan, an editor at Marketing Land.

Users were quick to notice this lapse and took to Twitter to complain.

Facebook has more than 640 million sports fans who use the service, according to the company, and Sports Stadium is intended to capture their attention during live events.

The Denver Broncos' T.J. Ward after recovering a fumble by Newton in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. The Broncos won 24-10. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

The hub includes posts from friends, live scores and stats, commentary from experts, and information about where to find games.

"[It's a complement] to the television experience and even the in-game experience," Dan Read, Facebook's head of sports partnerships, said at the launch of Sports Stadium. "It provides information about the game, but it also provides you that vital conversation and interaction around the game which we think is really critical to consuming live sports."