Close Menu
Newsletter
Login
Football

Super Bowl 60 refs: Who they are, how they are picked, how much they make

StaffBy No Comments17 Mins Read

Every team has a flag.

That was on full display during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. You saw the colors that represented each nation across the globe. It’s no different back stateside, even on a local level. Every state has its own flag and every NFL team even makes sure their logo flies on one as well.

Advertisement

NFL referees, however, aren’t thought of as a team in those discussions. Yet referees’ yellow flags have more of an impact than any other at the Super Bowl.

They are the third team that is often overlooked and that pesky piece of laundry has the chance to alter the course of history every time it hits the ground. It’s a reality that has football fans enraged every game, but the NFL will hope to avoid that controversy during Super Bowl 60 when the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks clash at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Here’s what to know about the group tasked with officiating the biggest football game of the year.

1 / 58

Super Bowl photos: Most memorable moments from Super Sunday

Super Bowl I (Packers 35, Chiefs 10): Green Bay Packers running back Jim Taylor (31) follows the blocks of Jerry Kramer (64), Marv Fleming (81) and Forrest Gregg (75) against the Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Super Bowl 60 ref crew

Shawn Smith will referee Super Bowl 60. This will be the first time that Smith is being tapped as the on-field referee for the NFL’s title game.

Advertisement

He previously served as the alternate for Super Bowl 55 and Super Bowl 58, per Football Zebras. Smith is in his 11th NFL season and eighth as a referee, earning his 11th postseason assignment that includes five wild-card games, three divisional round games and two conference championships.

Umpire Roy Ellison and side judge Eugene Hall are the veterans of the crew, as each of them are set to officiate their fourth Super Bowl. Down judge Dana McKenzie and back judge Greg Steed are the only other members of the group with previous Super Bowl experience.

Here is the full officiating crew for Super Bowl 60:

  • Referee: Shawn Smith (First Super Bowl)

  • Umpire: Roy Ellison (Fourth)

  • Down judge: Dana McKenzie (Second)

  • Line judge: Julian Mapp (First)

  • Field judge: Jason Ledet (First)

  • Side judge: Eugene Hall (Fourth)

  • Back judge: Greg Steed (Third)

  • Replay official: Andrew Lambert (First)

Smith refereed 17 games this season, according to NFL penalties’ database, running a crew that tossed the sixth-fewest flags in the league. The referee was assigned to the game that kicked off the 2025 NFL season, officiating the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys contest in Week 1 on opening night.

Advertisement

He has two games of experience with the Patriots in 2025 – Week 13 against the Giants and then the divisional round against the Texans. New England was 2-0 in those games. This will be Smith’s first game with the Seahawks this season.

Smith was promoted to referee after the 2018 season, when Terry McAulay retired and joined the NBC broadcast booth as a rules expert. Fittingly, McAulay will be on the call for Super Bowl 60.

Off the field, the 54-year-old Smith works as corporate manager for a major health insurer in the Detroit metro area.

How are the Super Bowl referees picked?

Think of the referee crew for the Super Bowl as the NFL’s all-star game for the people wearing black-and-white striped shirts.

Advertisement

All season long, the league tracks the performance of each referee at every position. When the playoffs roll around, that’s where the best rise to the top.

The league selects the top official from each position for the Super Bowl, forming the big game’s crew. In terms of performance, this is the best the NFL has to offer this season.

However, no referee can walk in off the street, throw flags for a season and end up at arguably the biggest sporting event of the year.

Super Bowl officials have to record at least five seasons of experience, serve for three as a referee and do at least one postseason game in a previous season to qualify. For other positions on the crew, the five-season rule still applies, but they can meet the postseason criteria with one career conference championship game or three playoff-qualifying seasons in the previous five years.

Advertisement

Unless they meet those marks, it doesn’t matter how great their grade might be.

How much do Super Bowl referees make?

The NFL doesn’t release data to the public on how much officials make, but previous reports can give us an idea.

When the league finally ended the great replacement referee debacle of 2012, details surrounding the salaries of officials finally came to light. That collective bargaining agreement included pay raises each year, with base compensation rising to $205,000 in 2019. However, that is the last known figure.

It’s unclear if that figure continues to rise with cost of living and inflation over time, but the league is certainly paying their officials a living wage.

Advertisement

As for any Super Bowl or playoff bonuses, those figures are kept under wraps. The last reported numbers came in 2001, courtesy of the Washington Post. Officials earned $10,000 for a playoff game and $11,900 for the Super Bowl then.

The current compensation for those games remains a mystery.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Super Bowl refs 2026: What to know about Patriots-Seahawks officials

Read the full article here

Keep Reading

Add A Comment
Leave A Reply

Copyright © 2026 Prices.com LLC – Data powered by Oddspedia  Oddspedia