NFL referee assignments: Which officiating crews will get the call for AFC, NFC championship

The divisional round is over, and now just three NFL games remain before a new Super Bowl champion is crowned. Over in the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks will battle it out. In the AFC, the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots got the call.

As the season speeds to a close, the NFL starts to rely more on its best officiating teams. That will be no different during both the AFC and NFC championship games, as the league has assigned two of its most dependable referees to oversee the action.

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Patriots at Broncos: 3 p.m. ET, Sunday

Referee: Alex Kemp

Kemp initially joined the NFL as a field judge in 2014, but was eventually promoted to referee for the 2018 NFL season. He’s worked eight postseason assignments before, though Sunday marks the first time in his career Kemp will serve as a referee during the conference championship games.

Kemp’s crew tends to call roughly the same amount of penalties per game compared to the average crew. More of those, however, go against the home team. Home teams also won a lower percentage of games with Kemp’s crew compared to the league average, though it wasn’t a wide amount.

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While Kemp’s team tends to call roughly the same amount of penalties as other crews, he’s averaging 10 more penalty yards per game.

Rams at Seahawks: 6:30 p.m. ET, Sunday

Referee: Clay Martin

Like Kemp, Martin also became a referee in 2018. He spent his first three seasons in the league as an umpire. This marks the first-ever conference championship game in which Martin will serve as a referee. He’s previously held that role during both the wild-card round and divisional round of the playoffs. Martin previously served as an official at the college level before joining the NFL, per Football Zebras.

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Martin’s crew tends to call slightly fewer penalties on the home team. This season, home teams won at a 62.5 percent clip in games officiated by Martin’s team. That’s up compared to the average, which was 53.5 percent in 2025. That could bode well for the Seahawks.