NFL reveals referee for 2026 Super Bowl: Here's how Patriots, Broncos, Rams and Seahawks have fared with him

We don't know who will be playing in Super Bowl LX just yet, but we do know who will be officiating the game. The NFL revealed this week that veteran Shawn Smith will serve as the referee. The 54-year-old Smith started in the NFL as an umpire in 2015 before being promoted to referee in 2018. 

Smith has already worked one postseason game this year, and that came in the divisional round when he served as the referee for the Patriots' 28-16 win over the Texans. Overall, Smith has been the ref for a total of 10 postseason games in his career, but this is the first time that he's been put in charge of the Super Bowl. All of his previous playoff experience has come in either the wild card round (five games), divisional round (three games) or conference title round (two games). 

This will mark just the second time over the past eight Super Bowls that the NFL has assigned a ref to the game who as never handled a Super Bowl before. The last time it happened came with Ron Torbert in Super Bowl LVI, which was a game that the Rams won over the Bengals. If the Rams beat the Seahawks on Sunday, they could get another first-time Super Bowl referee in Smith. 

If you're wondering how the Rams, Seahawks, Broncos and Patriots have fared with Smith, here's a look at their record with him over the past five years (stats via Pro Football Reference).

• Rams: 5-3 (1-0 in 2025)
• Seahawks: 3-3 (0-0 in 2025)
• Patriots: 4-2 (1-0 in 2025)
• Broncos: 1-3 (1-1 in 2025)

The Broncos have already seen Smith twice this year: He served as their referee in a 23-20 loss to the Chargers back in Week 3. He was on also on the field back in Week 14, when Denver beat the Raiders, 24-17. 

On the other hand, the Seahawks didn't see Smith a single time during the 2025 season. The last time he was assigned to a Seattle game came back in Week 6 of the 2024 season on a day where the Seahawks lost to the Giants, 29-20. 

One notable thing about Smith that fans will probably appreciate is that his crew averaged just 13.94 flags per game in 2025. Of the 17 officiating crews in the NFL, Smith's crew was one of six that averaged under 14 flags per game, according to NFLPenalties.com. Of course, Smith won't be working with his normal crew, so it's possible that number will be slightly different.

NFL playoffs: Patriots went 3-0 with AFC Championship referee in 2025; Rams are 7-0 with NFC title game ref

John Breech

Speaking of Smith's crew, the NFL assembles an all-star cast of the highest-graded officials of each postseason game, including the Super Bowl. 

The rest of Smith's crew for the game will be umpire Roy Ellison, down judge Dana McKenzie, line judge Julian Mapp, side judge Boris Cheek, field judge Jason Ledet, back judge Greg Steed and replay official Andrew Lambert.

This will be the fourth Super Bowl for both Ellison and Hall, so although Smith will be officiating his first Super Bowl, he'll certainly have some experienced help. Steed (third Super Bowl) and McKenzie (second Super Bowl) will also bring some big game experience to the crew. 

Super Bowl LX will be kicking off from Levi's Stadium on Feb. 8 in a game that will be televised on NBC.