‘The Golden Bachelor’ sets former NFL player Mel Owens for season 2

Will fans accept a rose from former NFL player Mel Owens on the upcoming second season of The Golden Bachelor?

ABC announced Tuesday that Owens, who’s now 66, will star in the next installment of The Bachelor franchise series that features seniors as the contestants looking for love. The retired athlete-turned-lawyer from Michigan played football for the University of Michigan and was drafted in 1981 by the Los Angeles Rams.

After suffering a herniated disk in his back, he retired from football in 1991, made his home in Orange County, Calif., and worked in law, specializing in sports injuries.

“It was during this time that he met his first love, and together they had two sons,” a network news release read. “While life took an unexpected turn with the passing of his father and the end of his marriage, Owens channeled his energy into being the best father he could be, focusing on raising his sons and coaching their extracurricular sports teams.”

But now, he’s “ready to rediscover a love rooted in the simple joys of companionship – sharing life’s everyday moments, making plans for the future, and growing stronger together as a couple.” Owens is looking to “finally find that perfect teammate he’s been waiting for in his golden years.”

The first season of The Golden Bachelor aired in 2023, and Owens’ casting is the confirmation that it would be back for another round. Gerry Turner, now 73, found love with contestant Theresa Nist, 71, on the ABC reality show. They wed in January 2024 — on TV, of course — however, they announced that they planned to divorce three months later.

“We’ve looked closely at our situation…and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage,” Turner told Good Morning America in an interview with the couple.

Nist, who lived three states away from Turner, added, “We looked at homes in South Carolina, we considered New Jersey, and we just looked at homes after home, but we never got to the point where we made that decision.”

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

In December, Turner revealed that the relationship had been affected greatly by him having been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in the weeks after they married.

“I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two son-in-laws, my granddaughters,” Turner told PEOPLE. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.”

The premiere date for the new season of The Golden Bachelor has not yet been announced.