Super Bowl referees rarely get top billing, but their flags can shape everything from field position to championship legacies. For Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium, the NFL has assembled what amounts to an all‑star crew for the New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks matchup, headlined by referee Shawn Smith in his first Super Bowl assignment as lead official.
The group combines multiple past Super Bowl appearances with deep playoff resumes, and arrives in Santa Clara under the usual spotlight that comes with every call in the league’s title game.
Who are the Super Bowl 60 Referees? Meet Patriots vs. Seahawks Officiating Crew
Shawn Smith will serve as referee for Super Bowl 60, his first time in charge of the Super Bowl after prior stints as an alternate for earlier title games. Smith is in his 11th NFL season and eighth as a referee.
He has 11 previous postseason assignments on his record, including five wild‑card games, three Divisional Round matchups, and two conference championships. He was promoted to referee after the 2018 season, when longtime official Terry McAulay left the field to join NBC as a rules analyst.
During the 2025 season, Smith’s crew worked 17 games and was among the least flag‑happy in the league, ranking near the bottom in total penalties thrown. He opened the season on the Thursday night stage, handling the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1.
Smith also has recent experience in New England, having overseen the Patriots’ Week 13 win over the New York Giants and their divisional-round victory over the Houston Texans.
Super Bowl 60 will be his first game this season involving Seattle. Away from the field, Smith works as a corporate manager for a major health insurer in the Detroit area and has a background in finance.
Around Smith, a crew mixes Super Bowl veterans with first‑time officials on this stage. The full Super Bowl 60 officiating crew is:
- 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)
Ellison and Hall bring the most Super Bowl experience to the group. Ellison has already worked three Super Bowls, appearing on the crews for Super Bowls 42, 52, and 57. Hall is set for his fourth Super Bowl after assignments in Super Bowls 53, 55 and 58.
Steed will be on his third Super Bowl crew after previous work in Super Bowls 44 and 54. McKenzie returns for his second Super Bowl after appearing in Super Bowl 44.
This crew is not Smith’s regular‑season unit. According to reports, the NFL treats the Super Bowl as an officiating all‑star game, grading officials by position throughout the season and then combining the top performers at each role into a single crew.
To qualify, Super Bowl officials must meet strict experience thresholds. Referees need at least five seasons of NFL officiating, including three as a referee, plus at least one prior postseason assignment in a previous year.
Other on‑field positions must also meet the five‑season requirement and satisfy postseason criteria through either a conference championship appearance or multiple playoff seasons within the past five years.
The result for Patriots vs. Seahawks is a position‑by‑position lineup the league views as its highest‑graded group for the year, with Smith making his Super Bowl debut in front of a worldwide audience while supported by multiple officials who have already worked on the sport’s biggest stage.
How Much Do Super Bowl Referees Make?
The NFL does not publicly disclose current salaries or game checks for its officials, including for Super Bowl 60. Exact figures for what Smith and his crew will earn in Santa Clara are not available in recent reporting, but earlier agreements provide at least some context for how officiating compensation has evolved.
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When the league ended the replacement‑referees standoff in 2012, details from that collective bargaining agreement showed that base compensation for officials was scheduled to rise to $205,000 by 2019. That number refers to annual base pay and does not include extra money for postseason or Super Bowl assignments.
There has been no official update since that figure, and it is unclear from current reporting how much regular‑season pay has increased since then or exactly how playoff bonuses are structured today.
As per reports, the last specific playoff and Super Bowl bonus numbers surfaced in 2001. At that time, officials were said to earn $10,000 for working a playoff game and $11,900 for the Super Bowl. Those numbers are now more than two decades old, and there is no verified breakdown for the 2026 postseason. The league has kept any updated figures private.
Most NFL officials, including Smith, continue to work in other industries outside the season. Smith spends his weekdays in a management role at a health insurance firm, which is consistent with the long‑standing model of officiating as a part‑time position supplemented by outside careers.
Taken together, the available information shows that Super Bowl referees are well compensated through a mix of base pay and postseason bonuses, but the exact checks they will receive for Patriots vs. Seahawks remain undisclosed by the league.
