Dodgers Legend Clayton Kershaw Being Pursued for New Role

Nov 3, 2025; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw acknowledges the crowd during the World Series championship parade at downtown Los Angeles. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

With only a few weeks remaining in the 2025 season, Clayton Kershaw announced he was going to be retiring at the end of the year.

His revelation came in time for the Dodgers organization and fans to celebrate the longtime ace during their final homestand. It was an emotional decision for the future Hall of Famer, but one Kershaw said he was at peace with.

Kershaw also mentioned looking forward to spending time at home in Dallas with his wife, Ellen, and their children, Cali, Charley, Cooper and Chance. The couple also was expecting a fifth child, and Ellen went on to give birth to Chloe in December.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman extended Kershaw an offer to join him in the front office, but it was declined.

While Kershaw has prioritized family in retirement, he is returning to baseball with Team USA for the 2026 World Baseball Classic and more work could be in his future.

NBC trying to hire Clayton Kershaw for Sunday Night broadcasts

NBC and Peacock are part of a new MLB media rights contract that is going to effect at the start of the 2026 season. It has NBCUniversal lined up to take over "Sunday Night Baseball" telecasts, revive "Sunday Leadoff" on Peacock, broadcast select All-Star Week festivities, carry all four Wild Card Series and more.

In totality, the agreement brings a slate of regular season and playoff games to NBC’s broadcast channel, their new NBC Sports’ cable network (NBCSN) and Peacock streaming service.

Given NBCUniversal’s return to covering MLB games, they are in need of media talent for broadcasts and related programming. Kershaw is among those in their sights for a studio analyst role, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.

⚾️ NEWS: Clayton Kershaw a top studio target for NBC in its return to baseball on Sunday Nights, The Athletic has learned.https://t.co/QADnR5qeR9

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 6, 2026

Given his comments about wanting to spend time with family, Kershaw presumably would not be interested in working as a studio analyst each week. He instead could be more amenable to working special event broadcasts.

One of those could be Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, which is an exclusive for NBC/Peacock.

There also is the potential for Kershaw being the subject of a broadcasting bidding war of sorts. He started to join SportsNet LA telecasts during the final seasons of his career, and drew rave reviews from fans and pundits alike.

Considering Spectrum SportsNet LA is the Dodgers' exclusive network, it's reasonable to expect they would have interest in hiring Kershaw for their broadcast team.